


The Days That Came

by EmptyIris



Series: The Days of Their Lives [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Complete, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Groose - Freeform, Hylia - Freeform, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Rebuilding Hyrule, Tags Are Fun, Tags Are Hard, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, Talking Link (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:54:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 26
Words: 74,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24861883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmptyIris/pseuds/EmptyIris
Summary: ~17 Years after SS~ The humans have failed to colonize the surface. A particular girl on Skyloft has been sheltered and shunned her whole life, despite her adoptive father being Link. It seems that everyone knows that she's the daughter of a particular demon lord besides herself. What happens when she decides to take her life into her own hands? What fate awaits her?
Relationships: Ghirahim (Legend of Zelda)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Days of Their Lives [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1798846
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

I woke up with a jolt and slammed my head on the ceiling. My legs were cramped, my back felt achy, and now I was about to have a headache the rest of the day. I stood up and looked back at my child-sized bed. There was a sweat stain from where I had laid. Confusing. I don't remember feeling hot or sweaty. I don't feel sick. So, I simply decided to roll my sheets back and let them air dry.

I stood up and walked to my vanity and took a seat. The bright pink always made my eyes hurt in the morning, but the visible wear-and-tear markings always bring me blissful smiles and memories. I dropped my hair down from the bun it was in. My long, grimly, waist-length hair dropped down and covered my ears. Good, because instead of the normal pointed human ears, mine are small and rounded at the tops. The white hair always made me look older than I am. I have the round face, big brown eyes, and deep red lips, but my dumb white hair adds an old-lady complex to everything.

I've been called Snow Head since I was little. I'm one of the only young and female humans on Skyloft with white hair. Link said he found me abandoned in a basket when I was a day-old. He was on the surface and didn't know if I was already named my parents who left me. So he just didn't bother to come up with one. At first, I was called "girl" or "kid" but eventually Snow Head was something that stuck around. I'm just grateful to have a name in the first place.

After brushing my hair and trying to make myself presentable, I got changed into my red knight outfit. I had just graduated from the academy; I don't know how, but I did. However, I can't officially become a knight unless I do the ceremonial fly to the surface and bring back an artifact. That's the capstone of all my hard work.

I jumped down from my loft into the dining room. I saw Link washing some dishes and I could tell I startled him. He dropped a pan into the sink and splashed himself.

"I'd appreciate if you didn't act like an eight-year-old." He grumbled as he grabbed a dish towel to dry himself.

"That's a lot to ask." I grinned.

"Your breakfast is on the table." He pointed at the basket of bread and a plate of eggs. "I'm running late for work, so I'll have to get out of here as soon as I'm changed."

"Are you going to be able to get everything done before tomorrow?" I asked while I sat down ready to feast.

"Tomorrow?" He seemed confused. I sighed. I should have figured.

"My birthday?" My smile faded a bit. "My seventeenth birthday, you promised me that we would both fly down to the surface together so I can become a knight." Link looked burdened by what I just said.

"Listen, I'll see what I can finish by tonight," he began "but if there's a lot of stuff to get done we may have to postpone. After Gaepora's passing-"

"It's been crazy" I interrupted. "I understand, you have a big job to fill. And the surface isn't safe enough for anyone to colonize down there yet. You and Zelda were barely able to keep everyone safe." I tried to put on a reassuring smile.

"Thanks." He turned and walked into his room. I lost my appetite, now. I stood up and cleaned up my breakfast. Link walked out and left for work so that left me plenty of time to do whatever.

I grabbed my satchel and walked out. I headed towards the bazaar in the center of the island. I walk in and immediately on my right I'm caught off guard by a tight hug embracing me. I looked and saw Mable, my best friend. She was a year or so older than me and was my second favorite person on this island. She's my best friend. I look over at the potion outlet. Her mom glared intensely at me. I took the hint and gently push Mable off me.

"I hope you've had a good morning." She grinned and began to walk with me through the rest of the bazaar. "You excited for your big fly?"

"If I get one..." I mumbled.

"Hey, you'll get one, even if I drag you down to the surface myself." Mable laughed and hooked her arm through mine. As we walked through the bazaar, I noticed that everyone would go quiet around me. I noticed it every time I came here. There're tons of shouting, music, haggling that just stops or get quieter the more I got close to a particular area. It is a thing that gets in my head easily.

"Mable, I want to become a knight so bad, but I feel like a lot of people are against me." I sigh and look at her. She frowned and looked around the bazaar at the many eyes staring us down.

"I wouldn't say that." She lied. I could tell that she noticed it too. "You're going to become a knight no matter what, I'm sure that Link- "

"Mable!" Mable's mother shouted across the bazaar, "Your shift has not ended for the night! Leave that girl alone and get back here!"

"Listen, I have to go, but I'll catch up with you tonight. Go see Zelda or practice your shooting or something." She ran off towards her mother. I took a look around and saw all the people crowded around staring at me. I began to make my way towards one of the exits. The back of my neck had hairs standing on edge.

"She still thinks she's going to become a knight?" Someone whispered behind me. I tried to just keep moving towards the exit and focus on something else.

"No, no, everyone knows that won't happen if we can help it." Another person whispered back. I sped up my walking and yanked the currents of the door out of my way. I quickly got my composure. Mable was right, I need to go do something. I need to calm down and get somewhere outside of town. I make my way to the academy. I saw two young academy students practicing their shots. They had set up some targets in front of the sparring grounds. I walked past them to go inside the sparring hall to retrieve a bow. Inside I go back to the stock room where we keep the extra bows. I grab one but as I was walking out, I noticed another bow wrapped in a dusty cloth. I go and unwrap it. It is a silver-lined steal bow that glimmered even in the dark closet. I looked at the plain wooden piece of crap in my hand. I don't know who's this was but I'm sure they wouldn't notice if I only shot a few with it. I giddily grab a few arrows from a barrel and walk back up to the boys who are shooting at targets.

"Do you mind if I join you two?" I ask them. They turn around and just stared at me. They said absolutely nothing and just stared. "Okay, well, I'm just taking a few shots." I shrug. They were so quiet. It hurt my head with how quiet they were. They finally stopped staring after I walk up to the marker and thread my arrow to the bow. Taking a deep breath, I exhale, release-bullseye. I turn around to grab another arrow and the boys are gone. I guess they felt out-matched. I take a few more shots, all landing in the red center. This bow was meant for me. I wanted to know who it was. After I ran out of arrows, I began to walk to retrieve them from my target. As I'm walking forward someone grabs me by my bicep and rips the bow from my left hand. I swallow hard and turn around. It was Professor Eagus.

"Just because the headmaster is your dad doesn't mean that you get to take what's not yours, kid." He grits, "I would think that such a promising alumnus like Link would raise a rat like you to know better."

I bit my tongue before I spat out angry words. I took a deep breath and remained calm, "Sorry, whose bow is it, sir? I just saw it in the ba-"

"Not of your beeswax! We all know the headmaster would not trust you with anything so nice." He turned around quickly and started to walk back to the sparring hall. I swore that he had been off today-I lookup. On the overpass, I see the two students who were here before snickering above me. My breathing quickens. I need to stay calm, but my frustration is getting the best of me. I feel my face heat up. My heart is racing, my fists clenched. I wanted to bury their snickering faces into the dirt. My right hand is forcefully opened, and Familien fingers intertwined with mine. At this same time I heard a sizzling and burning of flesh. I unlock my eyes from the boys, I look over. Zelda is holding my hand tight and smiling at me.

"I felt like you needed some comfort." She grinned. I reflexively jerk my hand away, I saw her hand, it was burned and raw, but there wasn't an ounce of pain on her face. I had burned her; my eyes fall to the ground and I take a step back. "Do not feel ashamed," Of course I was ashamed. I've had mishaps with my anger in the past. Link says that's the reason why everyone doesn't like me. He and Zelda have tried to teach me. Link told me that when I was younger, I almost killed someone because of a tantrum I had. My biological parents must have been lost humans who adapted magic and spells to help them survive down there. "Snow Head. I'm okay." She reassured me. "Let's go somewhere away from here."

We started our trek toward the waterfall. We always went to the waterfall when I was feeling down. She would calm me down when the islanders would frustrate me. She was the only person who treated me with respect and understanding, unlike everyone else here... including Link.

"I don't get it." I huffed.

"What don't you get?" Zelda laughed as I hopped across the stones that lead to the waterfall. Zelda carried herself well, taking elegantly long steps over the gaps of water.

"I do all of the stuff! I only do addition, but it still just leads me to a negative answer!" I groaned. Zelda paused to look at me funny before she walked to the next stone platform. She was confused. "I do the polite things, I work hard, I am nice, but in the end, people still hate me. I get mad because they hate me and I'm in this endless loop of getting angry and people hating me."

"Sometimes people aren't able to make things work as they wish it should. We will put all the hard work in, but if something is a little off, it doesn't work out. But that doesn't make it your fault. " Zelda began to get out of breath a bit. She took her last step to meet the solid ground and began to fall backward. I grab her arm before she fell into the rapid water. She got on her two feet or...one foot. I look at her wooden leg with a shoe strapped onto it. I realized what she said wasn't just meant for me.

"Do you think your dad is disappointed?" I asked her. She dropped her eyes to the ground and took a deep breath.

"It was my father's dream to give the best for the people of Skyloft. Even though we put in tremendous work trying to conquer the surface for humans, it won't work until we advance more. Most of the monsters are gone now that Demise is vanquished, but it is still a dangerous place. As for right now... staying in Skyloft is best for our people. He died knowing that we still have a future of advancement and hope ahead of us." She bent over, knocked a few times on her wooden leg, snapped back up and giggled. "Even if we get banged up a little to get there, we will still get there." We continue to head our way into the cave and out to the back to overlook the vastness of clouds, mountains, oceans, and pastel-like visuals.

"I can't wait to see what is down there," I stared in awe.

"If anyone could handle themselves down there, it's you." Zelda gave me a friendly elbow to the arm.

"Why, because I was raised by the goddess' chosen hero?" I rolled my eyes and pierced my lips. "He doesn't even let me fly without supervision."

"No, because you're your own courageous person who had an important future ahead of you." She corrected me.

"If I can get there-" I looked at my feet

"You will get there. And if you don't, you'll keep fighting until you do."

"What are you two doing here?" Link's voice erupted from behind us.

"Just some quality girl-time. What are you doing interrupting us, Sleepy Head." She sassily responded.

"Well-" Link stuttered and tried to collect his words, "she is in trouble, I got news from Professor Eagus that you tried to steal a bow-"

"I wasn't stealing it!" I snapped at him.

"I don't believe you. Not only are you a thief, but you're a liar as well. Say goodbye to your knighting ceremony. You aren't worthy."

"-but my birthday?!" I screeched as tears began to fall down my cheeks.

"Now, Link, that hardly seems fair for Snow Head." Zelda stepped forward to defend me.

"Doesn't matter. You aren't raising her." He gritted,

"I could've done a much better job than you are certainly doing now!" She shouted.

He shouted straight back at her, "I doubt you could've raised a bomb like her any better!" I took a step back. Tears flooded my eyes. Zelda immediately whipped her head around to look at me. She quickly pulled me into a hug. I buried my head into her shoulder and breast. I was so much taller that it was uncomfortable, but I felt like my whole world was collapsing. All my hard work in the knight academy, it was all wasted. My birthday fly ripped away. My parent thinks I am a bomb. If I could just stay here with Zelda, I'd be okay. But as soon as I felt like I was calming down, I felt Link's grip tug me away and I felt him gasping in pain.

I could feel his hand burning against my arm. I look up at him and my emotions switch from grief to resentment. I fueled my anger and stared him dead in the eyes. I could feel my body heat exponentially and his skin starts to melt on his grip. He ripped his hand away and hissed in pain. "Let's. Go." He gritted. A little smirk emerged on my face to see him in pain. I decided to walk with him. I didn't have much of a choice. It was getting late, I needed to meet Mable soon anyways. I look back at Zelda and she had her arms crossed looking at her feet. She looked sad, almost lonely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it feel free to say something in the comments. Go ahead and give some kudos and follow as well. It's a free and easy way to help support my writing. Stay tuned for more chapters! - Iris


	2. Chapter 2

Without a single word spoken on the way back, I slammed our front door open and immediately climbed the ladder to my loft. I ripped my clothes off and stared at myself in my mirror. My naked figure looked back at me. My tall, lanky body makes me grossed out. I wanted to gag. A "bomb" he called me, an unstable, explosive, destructive piece of shit. That's what I am. No normal girl is 5'11", no normal girl has magical unexpected powers, no normal girl has white hair, no normal girl is hated by every single person on this stupid island.

I put on my nightgown and sat on my bed. I hear Link finally shut his door to go to bed. I waited and thought to myself. After several minutes I heard a pebble hit the window below my loft. I quickly and quietly climbed down my ladder and walked toward the window. I open it slowly and climb out one leg at a time. Closing the window behind me, I turned to see Mable crouched down and held a couple more pebbles in her hand.

"You were fast." She whispered. I smiled at her. We quickly walk away from my house towards a diving platform in the center of town. We sat with our legs off the edge and watch the navy blue darkness engulf the world below us.

"I'm not going down there tomorrow..." I sighed.

"Um... yeah, you are." She laughed, I looked at her confused.

"I told you, you're going down there, even if I have to drag you down myself."

"Link told me-"

"And you're seventeen tomorrow. It doesn't matter what he says, you're old enough to take control of your life. We fly down, pick up some dirt or sticks for your silly relic, come up safe and sound, then you get knighted. He's just scared you'll get hurt. When you show him you're fine then there's nothing else for him to do." She had a good point. If I just went down he couldn't do anything about it. I'd get to have a good birthday, my knighthood, and who cares if I'm grounded a few weeks for it? I'd be getting what I worked so hard for.

"You're right." I leaned over to put my head on her shoulder. She rested her head on mine and we stared off into the distance. We stayed like this for so long. I felt so much peace and comfort with her touch.

I don't know how long we were out there, but eventually, I felt her head lift off mine and I sat up to look at her. She got up and grabbed my hand to pull me up. I knew that was her signal that we should head back. We walked back quietly to my house and I hugged her goodbye. I opened the window that I used to sneak out. As hushed as I could I closed it and went up to my loft and crawled into my cramped bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I drifted to sleep.

I opened my eyes but I was surrounded by darkness.

 _"my- my baby-My baby!"_ The screams of a young woman echoed in my ears. _ _ _"MY BABY!"___

"Hello?" I shouted. My voice didn't echo back. I felt separated from her.

 _"Don't you touch my baby, witch!"_ The same woman screeched and demanded.

A bright image floods my vision. I squint. Once I focused my eyes I noticed a woman panting and quickly walking. I was looking up at her. I felt tiny. It felt like I was shrunk down. She was pretty. She was young and had deep red hair. She looked tired and dirty. I tried to look closer but I felt like a filter blocked me from focusing. I couldn't make out a lot of other details. She was very fuzzy, almost like a faded painting. She knocked loudly and quickly on a door in front of us. The more I looked away from anything besides her the more blurry it got.

 _"She can never return to the surface. It's too dangerous."_ She spurted out her words as fast as she could. A familiar young man's voice responded.

_"Listen, I can't help you."_

_"You don't have a choice!"_ She snapped.

_"Catto, you saved my life but-"_

_"I said you don't have a choice. She can never see the surface. She can never know who I am-who her father is. And she can never-"_ her voice became impossible to understand, it sounded like she was underwater.

I jolted out of bed. The sun was up. I heard small birds chirping outside. Rubbing my head, I drug myself out of bed and over to my vanity. I was drenched in sweat again. That dream whacked me up. I've never had a dream like that before. I felt like a lot was missing to it. Who was that lady I've never seen before? Why was she in my dream? I was extremely confused and no matter how much I tried to get my mind off of it, I just found myself thinking about her again.

After getting ready again I grabbed my satchel and climb down my ladder into the dining room. I have no idea where Link is. He is normally in here before me. I took advantage of this opportunity and shoved some bread and fruit into my satchel for my journey. I put some extra candles and knives in there as well.

I walked outside and it was sunny but windy. It was really windy. I had to hold tight to my satchel to keep it from possibly flying off. I walked quickly toward the academy. The whole island seems suspiciously quiet outside. There were a few people out but not the normal-day people. Once at the academy I took a deep breath and opened the large doors that led to the interior. The whole academy was buzzing with all the students. A lot stopped and stared at me, but I kept moving. Once I got to where I was headed I knocked on the door in front of me. I kept my head down and ignored the looks and whispers. The door slowly opened a crack, I look up and smile at Zelda's face. She opened the door more to let me in and then closed it behind me.

"I'm sorry about how last night went." She apologized sincerely, but I know it wasn't her fault. "I know how much that trip meant to you-"

"I'm still going down there today." I interrupted her. She had a large grin quickly spread across her face.

"I was hoping you'd say that." She laughed. "What do I need to do to help?"

"I need you to distract him. Link is going to be keeping an eye on the skies and my bird. If he or another knight notice me out there, he's going to stop me. Just find a way to buy me some time in the sky. "

"He's not very easily sidetracked, but I'll do my best." She stated with a wink. "If he is on a mission he will have the determination to see it through."

"Oh trust me, I know. You're the only person I can count on right now. You're the only person he worries about more than me." I explained that I have a plan and that all I need is twenty minutes. We agree that we both know our parts and jobs. It was at this point that I finally realized that I was finally going to see the surface. I began to get very nervous and realized that it was going to be dangerous.

"Listen, Snow Head. No matter what happens out there, you make every effort to get there safely. Don't give up and get the job done. I believe in you." There was an uncomfortable amount of concern in her face. I look her in the eyes and nod to show her that I understand. I give her a tight hug and leave her room. Now, I needed to get a real weapon...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You made it to the end of chapter 2. If you like it so far, please continue to read and kudos. And feel free to comment! I read all of them. Thanks for the support and I hope you'll stay tuned for chapter 3. -Iris


	3. Chapter 3

I made sure to check if any ratty students were hanging around the sparring hall before I snuck in. I swiftly made my way towards the back of the sparring hall and into the back closet. I searched up and down the shelves and corners to see if I could spot what I was looking for. I know that Eagus would've hidden in, but he never would have gone out of his way to make sure it was foolproof. I searched for several minutes. He was smarter than I thought. I was about to give up and grab a normal wooden bow. I opened the door and when the sunlight poured in I noticed a glimmer in the corner of my eye. I turned to the shelf and placed myself flat on my stomach looking under the narrow gap between the floor and shelf. That's where I saw the polished silver reflecting the bright sun. Of course, to hide something from a tall person, put it as low as possible. I picked it up and grabbed a sheath of arrows. I quickly shuffled my way back out of the building. I made sure to keep the cloth it was wrapped in so that no one snitches on me again.

I began to walk to the bazaar. Again, the whole island seemed suspiciously quiet and deserted. I took a second to look around the sky. I could only catch a glimpse of one person flying. Normally at this time, tons of people are out on their birds throughout the sky. I don't know what was going on, but I needed to get out there before anything else got weirder. I picked up my pace and continued walking. Once I made it to the Bazaar, it was buzzing with people. It felt like the whole town was there. 

A few people started staring at me, a hand grabbed mine and pulled me backward, another hand covered my mouth to keep me from screaming in surprise. I was drug out of the Bazaar when I was finally released. I was quick to whip around and brought my hand back ready for a punch. I saw Mable step back ready to defend herself.

"Are you crazy? Calm down!" She yelped. I put my hand down and relaxed.

"You're the one who dragged me out like a kidnapper!" I snapped. My heart was racing.

"Yeah, because I'm not dumb enough to walk into a rush-hour bazaar with a weapon." She pointed to the cloth-wrapped bow in my hand. "People are on edge. You are the last person they want to see out and about with weapons." I dropped my head. She was right. "My mom said there was an announcement that there is a no-fly-warning. Everyone is staying inside. Only knights can fly while they are on duty. This could go really well or really bad." She looked at me with wide eyes. "We can try again another time if this goes poorly." She reassured.

"No, it has to be today." I looked up, I remembered what Zelda said. "Besides, if we are caught everyone is going to have me locked up for good." I was getting flustered. I couldn't mess this up. I had to get this right. This was my only chance. I felt Mable grab my hand. I looked at her. She gave me a weak smile and pulled me into a hug.

"Then we will get it done today. I promise." She let go of me. "Where is Link?"

"I don't know. If your mom said there was a no-fly-warning, then he is probably at the plaza making sure no one uses the main platform. That is probably where Zelda will be too."

"We can use the diving deck that's a little west of there and slip by him while Zelda is distracting him." She said. I nodded and looked around. I tried to see if I could see the plaza from where we were at. We would have to be stealthy so that no one saw us. We casually began to walk towards the western diving platform. As I peered over I could see Link with a few other knights talking in the plaza. They seemed to not be paying attention, but they would definitely notice two girls diving and calling their birds. We crouched behind a bush between the platform and the path towards the plaza.

"Psst." Someone hissed at us. That was it. We were caught. "Mable and I turned around and saw Zelda standing behind us.

"You weren't going to start the fun without me, were you?" She laughed quietly. We shook our heads and giggled a little. "I hope you two appreciate some good acting. Wait for my signal and then you can go." She took her hands and rubbed them all over her head to make her hair as messy and possible. I noticed that she had some tears in her clothes and was only wearing one shoe on her fake foot. She immediately started running towards Link.

"You're not gonna fly one-handed are you?" Mable asked me as we watched Zelda approach the knights in the distance. I take the rag off the bow and weaved my head and one shoulder through. "Did Zelda say what the signal was?" She was too far away to hear the conversation.

"No, but I guess we will have to pay close attention for-" I was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. Mable and I looked at each other and quickly sprinted off the deck. We started our free fall towards the surface. We let ourselves fall more than usual to keep ourselves out of sight. Almost perfectly timed, as we whistled loudly with our fingers, we could make out another scream from Zelda above us. In a blink of an eye, my loftwing was soaring beneath me and Mable reached out to hers. We finished mounting and slowly climbed in altitude, but tried to keep ourselves from being noticed. I saw all the knights and Link trying to calm down Zelda at the plaza. Mable and I were able to relax and calmly glide towards the green beacon that pierced the sky.

It was beautiful, the feeling of the breeze on my face. This feeling of long-awaited freedom, it was perfection. Everything was coming together. I could see the whole world from where we were at. I look over to Mable who had her arms out feeling the wind. I could not believe we were actually doing this. My loftwing has gotten minimal attention lately. I was blessed with a rare sapphire blue loftwing. The same as Zelda's. I always wished I could ride him more. They are not only rare but tend to be more difficult to form bonds with. Only strong souls can tame them. Saphhire loftwings ultimately decided who it wants as its rider. People thought I had cursed him or something when he came up to me when I was younger. I'll never forget the look on everyone's faces when I, of all people, was able to fly on him for the first time. That had to be my most favorite memory of this place. It's sad to say that it one of the only good memories I had.

I looked over at Mable who was caught in a daydream. I could tell she was thinking hard. I decided to not interrupt her, but I knew I would have to eventually. We were approaching the beacon. We would then have to make our descent and navigate our way to the statue of the Goddess. And that's where it starts to get really serious.

"Mable-" I began speaking but my bird started to flutter his wings to slow down. I turn my head and see a knight next to us, trying to slow us down.

"Hey! No one is supposed to be in the skies right now!" He snapped. "Especially not you, Headmaster Link made it clear that you aren't allowed to fly without a proper escort!" He glared at me.

"Sorry, sir! We didn't hear the warning. What is it for?" Mable asked politely.

"The wind currents! They are too strong and unpredictable for average riders to handle! You could get blown off!" He shouted. He took off his horn from his belt and blew into it. A loud low tone filled the air. I covered my ears and looked back towards Skyloft. I could make out the figures of several knights, including Link running to see what was happening. Once they saw it was us, each quickly began to jump off to fly over.

"Time to go!" I shouted at Mable.

"You're not going anywhere except the island!" Shouted the knight next to us. I gently kick my bird with my boot to indicate for him to speed up. My loftwing in a burst of speed flew past the knight and Mable followed closely behind me. I looked back and saw the gang of knights closing in on us, Link was leading them all. I knew I couldn't go back there. Mable and I were so close, we just needed to begin our descent without getting lost or separated.

"Get back to Skyloft, NOW!" I heard Link holler. He was much closer than I expected. I look at Mable who is close next to me.

"We need to start descending now," I told her.

"But we need to hold out or we will-"

"We don't have time! We have to go now!" I snapped. She nodded and we signaled for our birds to start descending... fast. We were basically falling at a very steep angle. I felt the uncontrollable winds the knight mentioned. Our birds began getting tossed back and forth. I looked back to see where the knights were and Link was basically at my bird's tail. His bird was under a lot better control than ours. I saw Zelda on her loftwing coming up as well. 

I turned to look forward again, I felt a huge shove from the wind on my side. My hands slipped from my grip on the harness and I reached out to fix it but missed, it was already too far away. I was no longer on my loftwing. I saw Link immediately begin to dive his bird after me. His hand reached out to catch my arm. I quickly stretch my hand as far as I could to meet his leather-gloved fingers, but they slipped away from me. Mable had one arm holding tight to her struggling loftwing, while the other was covering her mouth in horror. I felt the nips and bites of the wind eating at my back as I fell. Everybody was getting smaller by the second. They were the size of people, then dolls, then dinner forks. I could make out an ant-sized Zelda that caught up and looked down at me. I couldn't tell what her expression was.

Eventually, they all completely disappeared. I watched my whole life flash before my eyes. My seventeen years of dreaming of the surface, are now the cause of me being splattered onto it. I tried to twist and turn my body to see what fate awaited me. It was a deep, dark basin of water, surrounded by trees and lush green colors. I suppose Lake Floria is a pretty place to die. I have a 99% chance of death and a whole whopping 1% chance of survival. Better odds than the 100% dead and exploded on the ground like a human water balloon. I pulled my feet in and pointed them toward the ground and took a deep breath. 

SPLASH!

I looked up and saw the yellow sun and blue sky quickly turn darker and darker. My head started to feel heavier and heavier with all the weight above me. My eyes felt droopy, my lungs got weaker. I could feel bubbles of air escaping me. It was dark. Just complete darkness everywhere. I wasn't even sure if my eyes were open anymore. My ears felt like they were imploding. Then a sharp ringing in my head began. I was dying. I felt like flickering candlelight. I kept holding my breath, but I needed air. I had too much weight and the fall hurt too much to swim up. So I just relaxed my body and let go.

 _"Link, promise me that you will keep her safe!"_ A familiar female voice spoke in my head.

 _"I mean, she's not exactly like the rest of us, Catto. She's dangerous!"_ I recognized Link's voice now. I realized the voice from my dream was a younger Link.

_"She's human, just like everyone else here! Promise me!"_

_"I'm too young to be a parent-"_

_"Promise me!"_ She seemed anxious.

 _"I promise to keep her safe..."_ Link's voice was reluctant and disappointed.

 _"Thank you, I need to go."_ The girl's voice calmed down quickly. As if she was right in my ear I heard her breathe and then whisper, _"I love you."_


	4. Chapter 4

I coughed up a lot of water. It stung my throat and nose as it shot up. The sharp salty taste from the water only made me dry-heave more. I felt sand around me. It was warm and stuck to my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes, but the sun was bright. Everything had a negative imprint; it looked like I only saw shadows. I lifted my head to try and get a better focus. I barely remembered what happened. I had no idea where I even was. I heard a loud splash and I felt some droplets of water hit me. I quickly sat up and scooted away in response.

"Who's there?" I shouted. I could see ripples in the water where the splash took place. I thought I saw a long fin swim away quickly into the depths of the water.

My head was pounding. I didn't know where I was. I was starting to remember my fall from the sky. I looked down at my feet and the rest of my body. My clothes were still on, but I quickly realized my stuff was gone. I tried to stand up, but it hurt to move. I let myself rest there and I noticed that to my left, a sheath of arrows and a silver bow were set neatly in the sand with my satchel leaned against them. Someone had placed them there. I reached over and opened up my satchel there was a lot of seaweed, one of the kitchen knives, and a bunch of soggy bread and fruits. I quickly grabbed one of the fruits and peeled it. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. I shoved it into my face as fast as I could. The sweet juices tasted divine after coughing up saltwater. 

I finally got the strength to stand up. My legs were wobbly but eventually adjusted. I picked up my things and turned around, but what I saw only made me fall right back down on my ass. It was the biggest tree I've ever seen in my life. At this point, I was able to put together that I was in Faron woods and that was the Great Tree. The memories from what happened flooded back. Everyone must have thought I was dead. I fell thousands of feet and somehow survived. No one was going to come looking for me.

I was drenched in sweat, saltwater, and now covered in sand. I was going to need to find a place to clean up. I collected myself and hiked my way up a narrow path through some trees. There had to be some springs or ponds near the Great Tree. Yeah, I'll go with that. I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I only heard stories about the surface, I had no idea how to survive down here. So I walked for a while... a long while. I found myself tangled in spiderwebs, bugs in my mouth, and my clothes caught in any branch or thorn bush within a five-foot radius of me. At this point, I was beginning to think that this whole surface thing may not have been my slice of pie. After pushing my way through, I found an open clearing. Finally, a path! I kept my head high and continued walking towards the tree.

The closer I got to the Great Tree, the more lively the woods became. Flowers were blooming more, the grass was greener, trees were taller, it all looked brighter. I saw some of the roots of the tree twist and ramp their way up to the base. They became the size of buildings and walls. I tried to climb over as many as I could, but soon they became impossible to maneuver around. I noticed that very close to the trunk of the tree, a pond of water sat crystal clear. I ran over to it and immediately slurped up as much as I could. After putting my satchel and bow against a small tree, I jumped in fully clothed. I slowly peeled off layer each so that way I could rinse it individually in the water. I then would lay it out in the sunny grass to dry. I repeated this until all my clothes were off and I was naked in the water. I swam around and tried to wash my hair from the grim that was built up in it. The tangles were almost impossible to work through but eventually, I picked them out in the water with some small twigs. When I got out I wrung out my hair and tied it up into a tight bun. I was about to start putting on my clothes again when I heard leaves crinkle from footsteps. I grabbed my bow and prepared an arrow for whatever was around me.

A group of pig-like creatures walked out from behind the distance. They had scrunched up faces and wore rags. Each one had a sword but none of them noticed me or drew them in reponse. I stood quietly where I was at. They spoke in squawks and screeches. They were about fifty yards away from me and still had not noticed a naked girl holding a shiny bow. They just kept talking to each other. 

One of them made eye contact with me. He took a double-take and then ran up and tapped a friend on the shoulder. He yelled and pointed at me. One-by-one they alerted their whole group. Once they were all aware of me, they huddled in a group and started talking for about thirty-seconds. I still couldn't assess if they were a threat or not. They fell out of their team-halftime-talk and decided to charge at me. There were seven of them. I can take out seven.

The one that was running closest to me was screaming and flailing its sword frantically. I shot him through his open mouth and watched him fumble around not knowing what to do until he fell on the ground and died. The two behind him got a little hesitant but kept trying to run at me too. Their hesitation was enough time for me to grab a couple more arrows. One got it in the right eye and the other got it in his left. The next three started falling over the bodies of their comrades. My aim was a little too high for one, I ended up shooting his forehead instead of his neck, but I corrected it for the other two. The last one stopped running and looked at the bodies in front of him, slowly put down his sword, and turned around to casually walk away, accepting his defeat. 

These guys were nut jobs.

At least I got some good target practice out of it. I went over to the bodies and took my arrows out of them. I rinsed them each off in the water. I put on my slightly-dried red tunic. I took my female knight cap, which looked like a beret, and tucked my bun inside to keep my hair from getting in my face. I looked at myself in the reflection of the water. I immediately got self-conscious about my ears and then tucked them into the cap. It's funny how even while alone I was still ashamed of myself.

The most important thing was for me to find some shelter. It was going to get dark eventually, and with idiots like that out there, I don't want to just be sleeping out in the open. There were all sorts of ancient buildings around here, there had to be something somewhere. Even if it's just a dinky shed. I decided to go wondering and see if I found any paths that could lead to something useful. The path I followed began to disappear into an overgrown mess. The trees around me thickened and before I knew it, I was completely lost. I had no idea where I had been or hadn't. All I used as my source of direction was looking up towards the great tree.

No matter how much I felt like I was walking toward the tree, the further away it got. I started to get paranoid. I had my bow readied with an arrow for any sort of surprises. I kept feeling like someone was watching me. I feel my hairs on my arms and neck stood on their end. My heartbeat was racing. I didn't know what was happening and I needed to get out before I went insane. I picked up my pace and built my pace up to a sprint. I heard footsteps behind me begin to pick up. I twirled around and blindly let loose an arrow. I saw it fly out of sight.

"Dammit." I murmured under my breath. I just lost an arrow. I wasn't about to go get it either. I just whipped back around and started running faster. I could still hear someone else out there. I kept my eye on the Great Tree and just kept running. I wasn't going to look away in hopes that I would lose track of my only way out. I was running for my life. My anxiety and fear were extremely high from something that was probably nothing. It was probably some animal. I broke down my steps and began to walk. I didn't unlock my eyes from the Great Tree. My lack of attention leads to my foot getting caught on something and I fell on my face. I heard a woman laugh next to me. I looked up and saw no one. I tried to get up and start running again as fast as I could. However, I didn't properly regain my balance and ended up tripping right back onto my face. This time I knocked the wind out of me. I had mud on my face. I rolled over expecting someone to be there, but instead, I was somewhere else. I looked around while panting and the thick woods were behind me and the great tree stood ahead of me. Spooky. 

There was one of those pig-guys standing below the tree, it was the same one I let go from earlier. He pointed at me on the ground and started laughing,grabbed a horn, and blew it loudly. I growled and began to lift myself and reached for the bow. I saw a pair of gross ugly feet step up to me. I readied my bow and stood up. I was surrounded. I didn't even have enough arrows for all of them. There had to have been at least fifty of them. Each of them just stared at me with swords, cleavers, and bats in their hands. I was quiet and didn't move. I examined my surroundings, I needed to find a way to get out of this. I found an opening that I figured I could sprint through. After taking a deep breath and thinking over my chances, which were slim, I shrugged and got into a sprinter stance. One guy raised his club and began his battle cry. That was my cue to run. I used my bow and started whacked anything I could out of my way. I barreled through the crowd. It sounded like an earthquake with all of the feet chasing after me.

While sprinting, I realized in the distance there was a large building that abandoned. Something about this place didn't feel right, but I needed to hide somewhere. I felt a club hit my back and I yelped in pain. I managed to keep my balance and continued running towards the house. I felt the breeze of a swipe missing my neck. I was so close, I couldn't give up yet. Another whack got my left lower ribs and I went down. I fell hard onto the grass and the ground was hard and dried. I rolled over and expected to see the hoard of fifty swords read to go down on me but there wasn't anyone. They all just stood staring blankly at me. I clenched my ribs, which I am certain are broken and got up. I had also broken the skin so I felt blood seeping through my clothes. 

The creatures just stood there and looked around, they seemed completely unphased. I walked back and forth and their eyes didn't follow. I was invisible to them. I looked back at the old building behind me. I was standing in what I think is the only patch of dead grass in this whole forest. The whole house was surrounded by it. There was a distinct line where the dead grass met the healthy green grass. The pig-dudes started to get frustrated and turned around to leave. When they got a few feet away I took a step over the line to the healthy grass. One of them spotted me and screeched for the others to attack. Once they got close I took a swift step back and they became shocked and confused. I disappeared on them again.

"HA!" I yelled with a snicker. I decided to do it again. Every time they would give up and walk away, one step over the line and one step back. They fell for it again, and again, and again. Once I got bored and saw the sun started to set, I picked up my stuff and walked towards the porch of the building. The porch had dead plants in pots covering the railings There was termite raided benches that collapsed on themselves years ago. The front door was huge and elegant, small detailed carved into it but they were cracked with age. There was a large golden door-knocker. I knocked it three times and I could hear the echos inside. There were many windows along the side of the building, but dust and vines made them too stained to see through to the inside. This place hadn't been used in years. I try to open the doors, but of course, they were locked. I shook them and they didn't budge, I decided to kick them and they didn't budge. I took a deep breath, held tight to my left ribs, and rammed my body into the door... it budged. I screeched in pain and fell to my knees. Tears welled up in my eyes but I bit my tongue to toughen up. I could peek inside now. It was dark, however, the door wasn't locked, it was blocked from the inside. I caught my breath and calmed down. It was getting darker outside, and I didn't want to sleep outside and risk testing the limits of whatever spell is around this building. Taking another deep breath, a longer-running start, I rammed myself into the door again. This time the door gave in and swung open. I fell in the threshold and hissed. I inched my way over to the side of the porch and puked from the pain.

Once inside I noticed that the door was blocked by a dining table that was flipped on its side. It was hard to see without any light but I could make out a lantern on a small decorative table pressed against the wall. I went over and grabbed it. There was a box of matches next to a paper bag that had the top rolled shut. I lit the lantern and took in my surroundings. There was furniture broken, smashed, and thrown throughout the hallway. The hallway went a ways back and veered off to the left. Where I was by the front door, there were three doors to other rooms around me. Two left of the front door, and one directly across. The one across was slightly ajar so I decided to test it out first. I tapped it open with my foot and peered inside.

It was a small kitchen mixed with what seemed to be a dining room minus a table. There was a sink, an oven with some old burned wood inside, and lots of cabinets. I looked through the cabinets to see if there was anything to help my ribs. There were only small cloths and potholders. I found tons of jars of pickled or candied foods. Tons of them. My mouth watered but I needed to find something to help me first. After searching the rest of the kitchen I only found pots, pans, spices, and other normal kitchen things. I navigated myself to the other two doors in the hall. The one closest to the kitchen was locked. I was not willing to injure myself further to get inside, yet. The next room was a closet. It held mops, brooms, and other cleaning supplies. Ironically, it was very neat and organized compared to the rest of the house. There was a medicine cabinet on the wall and to my surprise, there were bottles of berries, healing herbs, and whiskey. There was also a shelf of bandage wraps. I snatched the alcohol and bandages. I used an old cloth from the cleaning supplies and dab the alcohol on my open wounds. I tightly wrapped the bandage around my ribs. It gave me the pressure and support I needed. I dropped the extra bandage and whiskey into my satchel. I grabbed the lantern and went back into the hallway.

I walked toward the table with the paper bag, again. I set the lantern down and decide to open it. My stomach clenched immediately and I puked all over the floor. It was one of the most horrendous smells I had ever encountered. I backed myself away, but the scent to follow me. Covering my face with my arm, I walked back to it and reached into the bag. I pulled out two bottles of a green moldy substance. On one of the bottles, there was a little marking of the Lumpy Pumpkin.

"I find it incredibly rude that you think you can just promenade into another person's abode and just regurgitate all over the floor." A sly, low masculine voice spoke from behind me. I took a step back and looked towards the front door where he was sitting on top of the old dining table. "A proper guest would at least ask before snooping through belongings or steeling." It was hard to make out what he looked like in the darkness. I heard a snap. I watched his shadow get up and start walking towards the light, as well as me. I naturally started stepping away in defense. He had dark skin- no-metallic skin, it glistened in the light. His eyes were glowing white, as well as his hair. He was extraordinarily tall. In the center of his chest was a silver diamond; however, the silver covering was cracked and a red crystal glimmered underneath. He has a similar diamond on his forehead. He reached his hand up and drank the remaining of a bottle of whiskey. I reached into my satchel and felt that my bottle was gone. He smashed it on the ground and I yelped in fear.

"Now tell me, how did you find my house? I'm curious." He snickered. "I haven't seen a human in a long time, so how were you able to get in here?"

"I-I-" I tried to spit some words out but I was too busy trying to back away from him as fast as I could. Uncomfortably enough, he kept inching forward with each step. "I was chased here by those-those pig-people." He chuckled. His voice was harsh like he hadn't talked in a while.

"My bokoblins," he put his hands on his hips and looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Still out to destroy the humans as I ordered. Good to know they're loyal... or imbecilic enough to not know what else to do. I'd prefer to think loyalty though." He appeared to be talking more to himself than to me. His speech was interesting, he seemed young but used slick vocabulary, almost from a different time. "So you were chased here, but how did you see this place?" His laughs quickly turned into a serious tone. He was getting so much closer and I have my back pressed against a wall.

"I just walked up. I saw it-"

"How did you see it?" He asked annoyed. I looked blankly at him. I didn't know what he meant.

"With my eyes?" I answered confused. He punched the wall left of my head. I quickly ducked under his arm and begun back-tracking towards the front door. I kept myself facing him so I wouldn't lose sight of where he was.

"I would not mouth off to me." He snarled as he turned around to face me again. "The only people who can see this dwelling are members of _my_ household. Otherwise, it is disguised for everyone else. So let me ask you again? Are you enchanted? Were you sent to kill me? Did someone send you here? Or are you too idiotic to remember what magic you cast to come in here?" I felt my heart pounding in my chest.

"I'd say the latter. So if you don't mind idiotic me, I'll just get going-" I turned around to quickly run to the front door. I heard his fingers snap and the door slammed closed and the lock clicked.

"Oh, won't you please stick around?" He hummed as he slowly walked toward me again. I was fiercely jerking on the door handle, I hoped it would open even the slightest but it didn't. "You've already made yourself comfortable." He was standing right behind me. I couldn't let him lead me to a secondary location. "What kind of host would I be if I didn't pay you my respects." The hairs on my neck stood on end, my instincts told me to duck down as fast as I could. I heard his fist clash into the door. I took the dining table that was next to us and kicked it in his direction as I sprinted down the hall. I passed several doors and stupidly kept running. Unsurprisingly, I was out of places to run. I spun around and he was right in my face.

"If you're trying to play hide-and-seek in my own house, I assure you that you will lose." He snarled. He stared me down as I took some steps away from him. He decided to try and reach to grab my tunic. I barely dodged him, but I noticed that I had a good position to strike him. I go for an uppercut punch to his jaw. My knuckles were met with the searing pain of punching a block of steel. My arm began trembling in pain as I tried to mute my scream as best as I could. The skin on my knuckles was now bloodied and raw.

Cradling my right hand with my left, I hunched over and started to try and shuffle my way back down the hallway towards the front door again. This time I was going to break a window and try to get out that way. My foot catches something and then I felt a hand grab my ankle and yank me back. I started kicking my opposite leg frantically. I got lifted by my ankle and thrown against a wall. My ribs screamed in excruciating pain. My vision became blurred and a loud ringing was all I could hear. I started aggressively coughing. My mouth tasted like blood and I hacked up a good mouthful onto the marble floors. I tried to stand up again but he was standing above me. He reached down and lifted me by my collar.

He clicked his tongue in disapproval as he looked at my bloody bandages around my waist. "Looks like you tried to fix yourself up. Here let me help you!" He grabbed my already destroyed left ribs and crunched the bones in his hand. A deafening scream bubbled up and erupted from my mouth involuntarily. His angry glowing eyes bore into mine. I felt him pull and rip at my skin, he opened up my wounds. All the pain took over my body and seamlessly blended together. I couldn't tell if my ribs were hurting, my concussion, or anything else. All I felt was pain.

"I'm sorry! Please!" I sobbed between screams. His face shifted to shock. He immediately dropped me to the ground and turned around. He began mumbling to himself.

"She wouldn't be proud of you- but she's not here. You fool-" I couldn't make out everything he was saying. He was going back and forth with himself, having an argument. Who the hell was this guy and why was he such a lunatic. I could barely move, but I felt a warm puddle flow underneath me. The scent of blood prickled my nose. I kept trying to move, it was difficult but I knew I couldn't stay here. I was going to die if I didn't do anything. I noticed he wasn't even paying attention to me, he was too invested in talking to himself. I had a burst of motivation volt through me. I ripped my bow off my back and loaded it with an arrow. I knelt on both my knees because I was still too weak to stand. I pointed my arrow at the center of his body. He heard me shuffling and turned to see me. The tip of my arrow pressed against the red diamond on his chest. He looked down at me and appeared a bit concerned about where the arrow was. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

"Your persistence is perennial." He let a small smirk fall on his face. I was beginning to feel cold and sweaty. My vision was going in and out. "But blood loss can take down even the toughest of knights." I looked down again and most of the floor around me was flowing with blood. When I looked back up he was still there just smirking down at me. I slowly felt my arms weaken and lower. My body fell backward and splashed in my blood. Before I had time to do anything else, I blacked out.


	5. Chapter 5

The sun glowed through my closed eyelids. I wanted to sleep more. The bed was so comfortable. My body ached and burned. I peaked my eyes open and was greeted with a tall, domed ceiling and a dusty chandelier looking down at me. My eyes widened. I didn't know where I was. This time it wasn't from lack of memory, but the fact that I had never been here before. I don't know what happened to me after I passed out. I looked down and my shoes were off, and I was still in my nasty, blood-stained clothes. I was grateful that my tunic is red in this instance.

I used my arm to gently push myself up and I was surprised to learn that my ribs didn't feel worse than a slight bruise. In fact, they felt significantly better. How long was I out? Who saved me from dying? I focused on the rest of the room. It was enormous; fit for royalty. The room was a large circle with the bed in the center. On my right had large wooden double doors and the left had glass double doors that led to a balcony. The tall headboard of the bed kept me from seeing what was in the half behind me. However, the half before me was split into quarters. The quarter that went towards the balcony was covered with huge windows that were framed with elegant drapes. The other quarter had a couple of large wardrobes and dressers, an easel, a desk, and walls covered in papers and art.

I scooted my butt to the foot of the bed and stood up. The cold white floor tickled my feet. Other than aches of being incredible sore, I had no pain. I pulled my tunic to check if my ribs were still torn open, but they were completely healed. I couldn't have been crazy because I still had bloodstains around where my wounds were. I started to walk and explore the rest of the bedroom. 

The rest of the circular room was covered entirely with more papers and paintings. I walked towards the balcony and opened the doors. I was towering over a large basin of water. Cliffs and trees were surrounding wherever I was. I turned and walked back inside. On the desk, there were lots of crumbled papers of sketches and writing. Two thick journals sat neatly among the mess. I opened one up and skimmed through the words.

_I sprinted through the house... If I didn't help now he was going to die... I begged him to just let me help, it was moments like these that I questioned why I haven't run away. However, it was moments like these that I was grateful to be around when I was._

I got bored. I closed the book and opened the other. The other book was written in a different language. It had different lettering than Hylian. I flipped through and about a good chunk of the way through, the characters flip to Hylian. The handwriting in both books was the same.

I decided I had enough of not knowing where I was. I walk towards the double doors and pull one open. My eyes widened in horror as I stared into the hallway that I was in last night. I was in one of the rooms that I ran past and got cornered. On the floor to my right was the puddle of blood that I ended up collapsing in. How was I still here? Was I dead? I started quietly running down the hall barefoot. I got to the front door and it was still locked. Even if it wasn't, I didn't have my bow or anything else. I would not survive any longer out there without a weapon than in here with a weapon. I defeatedly decide to walk back towards the room I just left. I needed to understand the rest of this house. It was dark and insane last night so I don't remember everything.

There were three small doors near the entrance. One was the kitchen and one was the supplies closet. There was the locked one that I wasn't able to go into yesterday. There were two sets of double doors on the right and two on the left. The room I was in was at the end of the right side of the hall. The other room on the right had doors that touched the tall ceiling and were more impressive than the front doors. I took a deep breath and twisted the ruby red crystal nob.

To my surprise, this door was unlocked. It was a very heavy door so I pulled with both hands to open it a crack. The first thing that greeted me was the humungous bed that was against the wall directly across from me. This bed was bigger than any I'd ever seen. It took up most of the space in this large room. It was framed with a couple of nightstands at the head. There were lots of large scattered windows that helped draw in light. Compared to the rest of the house, which was primarily white and brightly colored to reflect more light, this room had a much more of a dark-colored theme. I crept my way more into the room to see what else was around. A large grey rug spread over the floor at the foot of the bed. Towards the wall to my right, there were some big bookshelves placed between windows, there were also two dressers. They were both covered with papers and knickknacks. On the left wall, half of it was pushed back; this made a cubby for a large desk with many shelves, drawers, and cabinets to sit. There was a small table that only held a wide shallow glass dish. 

"I suppose you have a right to wander around your new prison." A familiar voice made hairs stick up on my neck. I whipped around and saw the man who almost killed me last night, I reviewed him. His malicious face of enjoyment from last night flashed through my head. His face seemed a lot calmer, but I don't remember him looking so young. He appeared only a little older than me. I was about to sprint away to hide when he grabbed my wrist and held me where I was. I began to panic and tug on my captive arm. "Would you calm down?" I kept pulling. "Just listen!" He barked, but I didn't want to listen. I didn't trust him. First, he beat me to death, then healed me, and now he just said he was imprisoning me? I don't know if I could relive last night again. He let go of my wrist and I fell forward onto my face. I scrambled away from him.

"I'm only going to punish you if you keep disobeying. Now get up!" He yelled at me. I looked back at him. He defensively raised his hands to show that he didn't have any weapons. I slowly got to my feet, yet I kept my distance from him. "Now, I haven't seen a human for a very long time. I have been trapped down here for almost two decades-"

"Can I at least know who you are?!" I snapped, he was taken aback by my tone but he calmed himself down and took a deep breath.

"I suppose I'll answer your questions if you answer mine. I am the demon lord, Ghirahim. I am the ruler of the demons as well as any dark minions my master has left behind." He took pride in the words that he spoke. I thought hard for a second about what he just said and my face lit up.

"You're that guy that Link fought and conquered with Demise!" I stated. His eye twitched a little. "What happened to you? Everyone thinks you are dead, I thought you were killed with Demise?"

"It's funny that this is how my legacy is remembered." He growled, but a smirk fell on his face. "I doubt any humans were told of the time I almost killed the Goddess's little hero. Everything would be different if it weren't for-" He quickly cut himself off and looked down at the floor. He began to mumble to himself and then looked back up. "My master was vanquished by the Hero, but the only thing that died was my binding to him. After he fell, I was sent back to the surface. I still continue to rule and work in his favor to this day."

"So why are you hiding if you're basically a king?" I asked. He crossed his arms sassily.

"No, no, it's my turn to ask questions." He teased. "Who are _you_? Why are you on the surface? And why are you hiding things?"

"I am the daughter of Link..." I didn't want him to find out anything he wouldn't like about me so I decided to lie. It is one thing if humans in Skyloft hate me, but if he hates me that's a whole other story. "My name is Mable. I am seventeen. I am a knight so I was completing some tasks for my father. I am not hiding anything since I have nothing to hide."

"If we play the lying game then I can reverse the healing spell I casted and put you back into the pulpous bloody state that you were last night." He glared me straight in the eyes. He had a soulless gaze and I could tell he meant every word.

"I'm not lying!" I reassured.

"You are absolutely lying. You wear your lies plainly on your face as you speak." He pretended to laugh but I could tell he was annoyed. "You are the most unknightly human I have ever met so that is undeniably false, and why are you hiding your ears and hair in that hat?"

"Okay, I'm not a knight yet." I sighed. I was just grateful he bought the rest of what I told him... even though most of it was true. "And I was in a fire, my hair and ears are burned and I am embarrassed by them."

"Ew." He made a look of disgust, I was insulted by his reaction. "I can tell that you're still lying, you don't have any confidence when speaking them. But I will pretend to believe your story and respect whatever embarrassing reason you have for hiding your head."

"Now it's my turn. When can I leave? Will you let me leave? Where is my stuff?" I demanded. He rolled his eyes and grumbled,

"You're staying here until I am finished using you. I will eventually let you leave. I will reward you for your work by giving you your stuff back." My jaw dropped, I didn't know what he wanted me to do to earn it! Did he want sexual favors? Did he want a human punching bag? Did he want to experiment on me? "I want you to clean up the house." So he wanted a maid... "There are a few other things on top of that, however, after those, you can go home. I also swear to not hurt you while you perform said tasks otherwise you will be let free early." As annoyed as I was, I don't think it was as bad as I thought.

"Soooo, cleaning?" I asked to confirm. He nodded. He snapped his fingers and a broom with a dustpan appeared in his hands. He handed them to me.

"You can start here." He chuckled and walked into this bedroom, then shut the door. I looked up and down the hallway. There was an unreasonable amount of dirt, dust, and shattered furniture pieces. I couldn't believe what was happening right now. I walked my way through the hallway, pushing all the furniture into a corner and sweeping up the dust and dirt. It took hours to get everything to somewhat look clean, and yet I still had a dustpan and pile of broken furniture. I walked towards his room and knocked on the door. I heard a snap from inside and I turned to see all the garbage disappear. "Carry on!" He hollered from inside the room.

"I guess I'd rather do chores than be dead," I grumbled and decided to work my way down the other end of the hallway. I saw my puddle of blood and I shouted down the hall. "I can't sweep up blood!" I heard him snap again and then a bucket of water and a mop appeared in front of me. I begrudgingly went ahead and began to mop up my blood.

Once the hallway was finished, I had to say I did a very impressive job. No more trash, you could see yourself on the floor, it looked like a completely different place. I walked into his bedroom and he was in the little cubby-office corner. He was reading a book and pouring vials of liquids into the glass dish I had seen before.

"I'm done with the hallway," I stated to him. He kept reading his book and pouring vials.

"Oh lovely," he responded. He kept doing his own thing though as I stood there.

"So, what next?" I asked.

"Oh here," His eyes never left his book, but he put down a vial and snapped his finger. My satchel appeared in front of me. My eyes gleamed with excitement, I picked it up and opened it, it was empty.

"Where's my stuff?" I hissed.

"You haven't earned it yet." He huffed, still reading his book. I was getting annoyed now.

"Ok well, can you put down your book and tell me what to clean next? I'm hungry, tired, and gross." He put his book down on his desk. He walked up to me and looked down at me with a smug smile.

"I can do whatever I want whenever I want. You're running by my schedule, bitch. So I suggest you respect me." He kept staring me down to intimidate me but I was still annoyed. "Follow me." He walked out his door back into the hallway and guided me to one of the last doors on the left side of the hall. I hadn't been in this room yet. It was directly across from the room I woke up in. He opened the doors and we both walked in.

It was the largest room I've ever seen. The ceiling went so high, it had to be at least three stories tall. Each wall was covered with bookshelves that reached all the way up to the ceiling. There were a few tall moveable ladders that could slide along the shelves. However, shelves were broken, books were flown all about the room, piles of books as tall as me piled on the floors. Towards the front of the room, there was a living area with a large couch, a few sofa chairs, but they were knocked over and all messed up. In one of the corners was an elegant large piano with a violin on a stand next to it. It seemed completely untouched. The wall on the farthest end of the library was one giant glass window. It let in all of the sunlight into the room and shined on such a horrific mess. Also in the far right corner, there was a ladder that led to an indoor, highly placed balcony. In one of the corners was an elegant large piano with a violin on a stand next to it. It seemed completely untouched. I was dumbfounded at the massive amount of work before me.

"Have fun with this one." He teased as he began to walk out. I whipped around to face him.

"How come you can't just snap your fingers and clean it up like that?" I yapped at him.

"Oh, I can snap my fingers!" He laughed and then he did. With his snap, a whole other shelf of books came crashing down. My eye widened. I looked back and he was laughing and walking back to his room. I sigh and started by flipping the furniture for the living area back into place and making it look neat. Then I went to one of the many large piles of books and began to organize them into smaller neater piles. This was going to take days to finish.

Hours passed and the large window began to have the sunlight dim into the moonlight. I felt like I had made no progress. Instead of a few large piles of books, I now had many small piles of books. My head hurt beyond compare. I stretched out my back and arms. A huge yawn escaped me. I decided to get up and sit on the couch in the living area. Unintentionally, my eyes began to droop and relax as I sunk into the comfy sofa.

Right after I realized I had fallen asleep, I shot my eyes open. It was very dark and the moonlight was the only thing that helped me make out what was around me. I was still on the couch but in one of the chairs, Ghirahim was sitting reading a book.

"I was going to say that I didn't pay you to sleep on the job, but I must have gotten distracted." He sighed as he continued to read. "I haven't sat down and read in here in a while, I forgot how nice it was in here." My brain was still a little foggy from just waking up. I tried to focus on him and have my eyes adjust to the dark.

"You shouldn't read in the dark. It's bad for your eyes." I spoke through a yawn. He closed the book and smiled gently at me.

"I suppose you're right." He stood up and used his hand to beckon me to follow him. I stood up slowly and walked with him back out to the hallway and towards his bedroom. He had some lamps lit and his chandelier also gave off some light. He took me to the small door that was on the left half of the room. He opened it and lit another light.

"You can pick something from the left half if you would like." He told and stepped out of my way so I could walk in. It was a large closet with all sorts of clothes. On the left, there were tons of dresses, skirts, blouses, and woman clothing. On the right, there were some suits, cloaks, and some very odd tight clothing with diamonds cut-outs. I decided to quickly look away and not think too much into it. Back on the left, there was a shoe rack and a small dresser. I pulled open the dresser and there were some nightgowns. I picked up a light blue one and realized it was made from fine, soft linen. This was much nicer than anything I had ever had in Skyloft. Then before I walked out I noticed a silk hair-wrap. Since it bothered him that I was hiding my hair and ears, I decided to continue to keep them covered. So I snatched the head-wrap.

I walked out and he stood there with a towel. He looked a little unconformable. He nodded after I grabbed it and led me out of his room and to the second-to-last room I had not been in yet. In the middle of the hall, on the lefthand side, he opened the door to a large bathroom. He snapped his fingers and all the lanterns lit up inside. He walked over to the huge bathtub and pulled a lever to start the water.

"I am a generous person." He assured me. "I'm giving you clothes, a place to sleep, and a warm bath. Please be grateful."

"You're quite the host," I replied sarcastically. My stomach growled loudly. "You've done everything except feed me."

"I never said I was perfect." He hissed at me. He started to mumble to himself. "I'll have food waiting on your bed when you are done washing up. Drop your clothes outside the door and I'll get them cleaned up for you tomorrow. You will finish your work tomorrow, have a good night." He turned around to exit the bathroom.

"Wait, Ghirahim!" I spurted out.

"I didn't believe we were on a first-name basis, yet." He grumbled. "Yes, what is it, Mable?" I had forgotten that was the name I gave him.

"Why did you have so many women's clothes in your closet?" I asked. His face looked as though he didn't know how to respond, almost as he had remembered something bad. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Without a response, he walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up feeling refreshed, clean, and somewhat happy. It took me a moment to realize I still had to clean that dumb library, which in turn completely ruined my positive spirit. After I got out of the tub last night, I wrapped my hair up and got in my fancy nightgown. As promised, there were a couple of jars of pickled foods awaiting me with a fork on my nightstand. It was some of the best food I've eaten since getting down here. Come to think of it, it was the only food I had eaten since getting down here.

I stood up from my bed and stretched out every inch of my body. At the foot of my bed, my clothes sat washed and folded. My boots were on the floor below them. I slowly got dressed and I tucked my hair and ears up into my cap. I walked outside of my room and across the hall to the library. Ghirahim was way up on one of the ladders putting books back on the shelf. Most of the massive piles of books were gone and it looked like it was back to its original elegant state.

"There's a change in plans. I need you to do something." He said as he began to climb down. "You're going to Lanayru Desert. I will teleport you there, but I need you to grab a specific seedling. It's particularly for a Tree of Life. You will have to use some time-shift crystals to get it."

"You're letting me leave?" I asked confused.

"No, you're coming back." He snapped his fingers. I felt my body become covered in goosebumps and I got a cold chill. I quickly warmed back up. "I put an enchantment on you. I will be able to hear and see what you are doing. If you stray away, I'll know and I'll just pop you right back here and you'll never see your things again." He giggled. "Speaking of which, if you do this successfully, you will get all your stuff back _and_ I will give you freedom." My face lit up. This was going to be easy.

"Why don't you do this yourself if it's so simple?" He got irritated by this question.

"Because I am..." He got nervous and looked like he was thinking of a story. "I have a lot of enemies over there. I'd rather not cause any conflict." I looked at him doubtfully. "Well, bye." He snapped his fingers and my vision flashed to a bright white. I squinted my eyes to focus and I made out a sandy yellow color around me. I felt the dry heat cover my body.

Once I got a hold on myself I looked around. I was on a large cliff. There was a huge abyss that went out for miles in front of me. There was a large mechanical circle with a cart that was filled with rocks and a small purple crystal peaking out. Behind that was a huge pile of dusty old bones and right by the pile of bones was an old rusty hut.

I walked around, Ghirahim said time-shift crystal. The only crystal I saw was the purple one. How would I use it? I stood there a pondered for a bit. Maybe there was something in the hut. I walked over and pulled the door open. Inside was a small bed, an old oven, and an old broken robot on the floor. One of the walls had scratches in it. It was tallying. The whole wall was covered from floor to ceiling. I decided to walk out before it got any weirder. But on the door on my way out was a schedule. 

_6 am: tap gem on, breakfast, bring water_

_8 am: tap gem off, check for eggs_

_10 pm: tap gem on and treat infections, bring water, make lunch_

_2 pm: tap gem off and go gather more crystals_

_5 pm: tap gem on, medicine, infections, water, dinner, go take care of the sapling_

_9 pm: tap gem off, start the fire, heat house, go to Bed_

This was perfect. It was a bit after nine. It was only going to get more hot from here on out. I walked out to the cart that had the crystals. I took my nail and gave it a strong tap. The crystal glowed up to a bright cyan. The old mechanical cart sprung to life, and the surrounding area became lush with grass. The small hut was brand new. The skeleton morphed into a large majestic dragon. He looked over at me. I got scared and froze.

"A visitor?" He bellowed. He had a deep elderly voice. I stayed quiet and backed away, I saw that there was a bridge that went towards a ledge. If I followed the ledge around it would take me to an old tree.

"A quiet visitor... those are never exciting." The dragon huffed disappointed as I walked away. He began to have a coughing fit. The kind that resonated how truly sick the cougher was. I kept my head down and kept walking. There was a defined border where the crystal stopped working. I crossed it into warm sand again. I got to a sand-waterfall. I had to run through the loose sand and try not to sink in order to get to the tree. There was another crystal next to the tree. I kicked it with my toe. This one was a lot weaker. It only morphed the small island that I was on. The tree shrunk to a tiny sapling and there was a robot sitting next to it.

"Bleep. brrrr. You are not the misses. Zzrrtt! " It said to me as it looked up. I was confused, but he was cute.

"I'm not, but I'm here to help take care of the sapling," I reassured.

"You are not authorized. Master Thunder Dragon needs fruit from the Tree of Life to recover. Vrrm!" He recited.

"Yes, I know. I am taking it to a more suitable environment."

"Negative! This is the most suitable environment." He corrected. I looked around at the surrounding barren desert. This guy was a robot. He's not going to get it. I pulled up the sapling by its lower trunk. "What are you doing? Zrrk! We already lost the first sapling for the goddess' hero! This is the last one to help Master Thunder Dragon."

"Sorry, bud." I shrugged. I kicked the gem again and he immediately went back to a pile of parts. I started backtracking, the heat made it easy to space out so I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking until I slammed into something. I fell on my ass and looked up. It was a girl. She was maybe in her early twenties. I stared at her. She looked so familiar. She had orange hair, deep blue eyes, she was average height. She looked down at me. She was completely shocked.

"What are you doing here?" She gasped. She seemed very worried and stressed, but then looked at my face and immediately relaxed. I stood up and held the seedling tight in my hand.

"I had to get something..." I said. She grinned slightly.

"I can't let you take that." She said pointing to the sapling.

"Well, I need to." I started to walk off the bridge and pushed passed her.

"Would you at least stay for a talk?" She insisted. I heard that she was eager. I was confused.

"A talk?"

"I am making lunch in a second before I sit inside during the hottest part of the day. You probably don't want that sapling dying in the heat, and you won't make it far anyway before getting a heat stroke." I took a deep breath and thought. I was really hoping Ghirahim would teleport me back now, things were getting awkward. But if he doesn't do it soon, I really don't want to end up stuck out in the heat. 

"Sure," I answered.

"I'm Catherine." She smiled and walked with me towards the hut. The big dragon was still there and coughing. I chose not to look at him while holding the sapling.

"I'm-"

"You don't have to tell me." She interrupted. She was strange, but she carried herself well. I got a lot of comforting feelings from her. "I was making a cold mushroom chowder with chilled boiled eggs." She explained. She got a small empty vase and put some dirt from the floor into it. She then pulled a large pitcher of water and poured it in the dirt. She handed me the vase to put the sapling in. I planted it nicely.

"Come on outside for a second. It won't be too long." She assured. She smiled wide, but it felt forced. She grabbed a cloth and a bottle of whiskey. I carried the vase and walked with her. She walked towards the dragon. "Good morning, Lanayru. It's that time."

"Oh, goodness! You are the only young lady who can make such a dreadful experience so tolerable."

"Oh, hush." She laughed. She went up to him. Being closer, I noticed he has large welts and old cracked skin that has gotten infected all over his body. She took the bottle and poured it on the cloth to dab on the wounds. I cringed at the sight. The dragon took it like a champ.

"Catto, I hope you realized that your new friend is heavily covered in an enchantment." My head shot up to look at them.

 _"...She's not exactly like the rest of us, Catto."_ A voice spoke in my head. Why was I recalling this? Where have I heard this before?

"Oh, I am well aware. It was one of the first things I noticed when I saw her." She laughed. I felt my face go red in embarrassment. They both knew I was enchanted? How much did they know? Who was this Catto person? Why do I know her? I tried to wrap my head around it.

"All done!" She chirped and walked over to me. "Let's get in the shade!" She smiled at me and we walked inside her house.

"Have a seat!" She insisted, gesturing towards the bed. I sat on the edge.

"I thought you said your name was Catherine?" I asked.

"Yeah, Catherine is my name, I just also go by Catto to those I am close with." She talked as she began cooking.

"How long have you lived here?"

"The hut is a little bit of a newer edition. I had those cute little robots you saw help me put this together. I used to just go hide in nearby caves when it would get hotter." She explained. She chopped some mushrooms. I realized she dodged my question though. "Because we built it while the gem was on, we were able to make it so it would last through time."

"Yeah, but how long since you first got here?"

"I forget." She laughed a little nervous.

"What do you do around here then?"

"I'm a healer. I love to help people any way I can. I mainly try to help Lanayru get better. He's getting closer and closer to his time. The crystals still have a continuous timeline. So I have to be careful how long I leave it activated. There's a method to it." She turned around and handed me a bowl of a thick liquid with chopped mushroom. I sipped on it from the bowl.

"I've been trying to get the bots to mine more. The goddess was said to have hidden two gems in the world. They have the power to alter time without capacity. They are rumored to be able to time travel entire people. We could use it to keep helping Lanyard until he's back to health." She finished her folktale and started to sip on her chowder. She kept looking at me. She looked so content and I wasn't sure why.

"Patience is a virtue for a reason." She told me. I got confused, I didn't think I was being impatient.

"Sorry?" I asked her.

"I think it might be time for you to leave." She put her bowl down. She was still smiling, but I was concerned.

"I thought you said it was too hot outside?" I asked scared, I didn't want to get fried.

"You won't need to go outside if you just teleport back." My eyes widened. How did she know?

"I would have learned more about her before sending her my way, Ghirahim."

"How did you-" I was at a loss for words.

"He didn't need that sapling. He just wanted an excuse to see where I was." She explained. Her smile fell off her face. She seemed irritated. It was frightening to see her be so considerate for so long and now... this. She grabbed the sapling from my hand and with a snap of her fingers I was back in the house. I was in Ghirahim's bedroom. He was angrily looking into his spell bowl. He looked up at me.

"That bitch." He spat. He was infuriated. He started to walk towards me, but I took a step out of his way. He walked past me and to one of the dressers. He ripped the drawers out and began chucking them across the room. Once all the drawers were out he picked up the dresser frame and threw it across the room. I had to dodge it and jump out of the way. The dresser broke into several pieces. I realized how this house became such a mess. His head snapped to look at me on the ground. I scrambled to my feet.

"I'm tired of lies." He gritted through his teeth. He walked up to me and I closed my eyes in anticipation for a punch. Instead, I felt my hat rip off my head and my hair fell out of the bun. I kept my eyes closed but nothing was happening. I slowly opened them. Ghirahim held my had but he looked terrified.

"No." He quietly gasped to himself. He looked at me like a monster. I felt as if I were back in Skyloft. The demon lord himself couldn't even hold himself together in front of a _freak_. He took a step towards me. He reached out his hand slowly and pushed my hair behind my ears to look at them. As soon as he saw their rounded tops he jerked away. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there. After a bit, he stood up straight and took a deep breath and snapped his fingers. All of my stuff appeared at my feet. All of it.

"What is your name?" He asked, he was trying to keep himself calm but I could see him shaking.

"I-I-" I tried to get some words out.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" He screamed at me. Tears rolled down my cheeks.

"I-I don't have one." I quivered. He shook his head frustrated.

"Leave. Never come back here." He spat. I was still frozen. "You have thirty-seconds, otherwise I promise I will kill you." I could see in his eyes that he meant it.

I grabbed my stuff quickly and ran out of the room, down the hallway, and to the front door. I quickly tried to get as far away as I could from the house. I found a low tree that I climbed and sat on a sturdy limb. I continued to replay everything that just happened over and over in my head, crying harder each time.


	7. Chapter 7

I hadn't slept. I stayed awake in that tree, quietly crying and watching time pass. I couldn't go back to Skyloft, I couldn't go to the one person on the surface who let me have a place to stay. I didn't know what to do. I was not going to survive out here for long.

I climbed down from my tree and collected my bag, bow, and arrows. I began to trudge through the forest down any path I could find. If I got off the path, I'd find another, then rinse and repeat. I walked for a couple of hours. It was a bad time of year. The fruits were all dried up and spoiled from the sun. Bugs ate at my face. I was back to feeling how I did three days ago. Except this time, instead of feeling free and renewed I felt lonely and pathetic.

I paid no attention to any animal or creature that spotted me. I kept my head down, my hair now getting knotted by the humid breeze. I could hear some of those dumb pig-guys squeaking at each other, but instead of attacking me, they looked like they didn't want to be around me either. Guess I'm too much of a freak for them too.

Because I hadn't lifted my head for a while, I had no clue where I was going. My stomach growled and my mouth was chapped. I was way too in my head to have had a destination in mind. Regardless, I finally looked up when I thought I saw a dead-end in front of me. It wasn't a dead-end though, it was a big ancient door. I reached out my hand and push them open. They were heavy but felt like they were used recently.

Inside was dim. The ceiling was cracked and let in some speckled sunlight. In the middle of the building, there was a large gear turning slowly. It gave off a very old feeling yet it glowed like it was new. In front of the gear was a platform and a person sat meditative with a cloak draped over them. I walked behind them. They were facing a room with a sword in a pedestal. I focused and I realized it was the legendary Master Sword. I gasped in awe.

"Ya' like what ya' see?" A low, quirky, voice spoke from the person in front of me. They began to stand up. They were a lot taller than I was expecting. The hood of the cloak fell back and a bright red pompadour popped out. They turned around and it was a man I had never seen or heard of before. My mind gave him a strong rusty-trombone theme just from looking at him.

"Ummm," I didn't know how to respond to that.

"It ain't er'yday someone from your generation gets to meet a legendary hero." He posed perilously. I smiled awkwardly at him. What was he doing down here? How did Link never mention this guy? Was he just a poser?

"I'm sorry, what is your name?" I asked politely. His face went pale with shock, his face exaggerated every expression he made. He began to tear up but went into a fake coughing fit to pull himself together.

"The Glorious Groose?" He said as though it would ring some sort of bell for me. "The great inventor of the groosenator?" I shook my head, "the keeper of the sacred grounds?" I knew there was someone who kept the sacred grounds, so I nodded as if I knew who he was. "Thank heavens!" He laughed in relief. "I almost thought ol' Linky forgot to mention me when telling people our story up there!" I nodded and laughed to play along.

"Yeah, I must have just forgotten. My bad." I shrugged.

"Well, settle down! Humans rarely come down here except for knighting ceremonies, I'd be happy to host ya'!" He slicked back his hair, but it just popped straight back up. He walked over to a pot in the corner and reached in to pull out a loaf of bread. He grabbed another pot and brought it over to where I was. He sat on the steps to the giant gear. He took a huge bite from the loaf of bread and then motioned for me to sit next to him. I did. He handed me the bread, I took a bite from the other end. It tasted dusty. He handed me the large pot of water and I drank as much as I could.

"Thank you." I smiled at him.

"Of course! Nothing an old human can't do for another human or whatever ya' are." He laughed and took another bite from the loaf of bread. I was confused, he noticed I was different but didn't care?

"You're not scared?" I asked him. He looked at me and busted out laughing. He had the deepest loudest chuckle I've ever heard. I started to think, I don't think anyone has ever laughed that genuine around me.

"No offense, sweat-pea, but why should I be scared of you?" He handed to loaf back to me. I took another big bite. After I finished chewing and looked at him. I pushed my hair back behind my ears.

"Because I'm different," I emphasized, pointing at my ears. I was a bit annoyed with him acting like nothing was wrong with me. He just kept laughing.

"Listen sweat-pea, I've been down here over seventeen years. I've seen rock-guys, fish-gals, dragon-peeps, floating-chicks, and a giant-ass black thumb of a monster. So what if you look a little funky?" He took the pot and drank some water, but he spilled a lot on his clothes, which just made him laugh some more. "Besides, you ain't the only girl with roundy ears. I had that girl come through way-back-when when I first gots here." My head shot up and looked at him.

"W-what?" I asked in shock.

"Yeah, she was real messy. She looked like she had just went to hell and back again. It was funny, the only other time I hads seen her was a few days before when she stopped by after coming's back from Skyloft. She gave me some lumpy pumpkin soup she had bought. She was real pregnant too!" He started to have another laughing fit but I stared at him anxiously for him to keep talking. He calmed himself down. "Well, she came by again and like I said, she did not look well. She wasn't pregnant no more. I asked her where the baby was and she told me somewhere safe. So I was all like 'oh okay miss.' Then she asked to go in my groosenator. She wanted to be shot far far away. I told her that with how she looked that it might as well be suicide. Especially with where she wanted to go."

"Where did she go?!" I blurted out loudly.

"She wanted to go west. She said she needed to be shot as far west as she could. The only thing west is desert though."

"Who was she?!"

"Hold on, hold on" He tried to calm me down. "I gotta think!" He hummed. He handed me the remaining bread and I ate it quickly while waiting for him to remember.

"You know, I can't remember." He huffed. I groaned and leaned back on the steps annoyed. We both sat quietly. But then Groose snapped his finger. I looked around expecting something to have appeared or disappeared, but then I realized that he probably didn't have that power. "Capno!" He said in recollection. My eyes widened.

"Catto?!" I corrected him excitedly. He shook his head disagreeing.

"Nah, Capno." I rolled my eyes. I knew what he meant.

"Can you send me the same direction you sent her?" I asked.

"Well, sweat-pea, you aren't looking too hot and as I told her, it's a suicide mission to go towards the desert without proper equipment, especially water. You're already dehydrated as it is." He explained.

"I just ate and drank-"

"Not enough for the desert!"

"You have to send me over there, please!" I begged. He took a deep breath, thought for a second, and the looked at me.

"Alright." He stood up and set the pot of water down. We walked outside a different set of doors. The goddess statue stood high and elegant. We walked around and Groose brought me to a large catapult that was on a track around the statue. He helped me climb up and I got into the catapult.

"You have a sailcloth right?" He asked. I shooked my head. "You're definitely going to die." I laughed at his comment. I'd survived falling from the sky once, I could do it again. Right?

I balled myself up and felt him begin to crank back the machine. I closed my eyes and began to brace myself. Whoever Catto was, she had answers. I tried to think distracting thoughts, but unfortunately, there's no thought distracting enough to keep you from screaming as you feel all the force of the universe shoot you into the sky. I shot so far up that I could see Skyloft and I could make out images of loftwings weaving themselves through the sky. The upward motion made my stomach churn, but I forgot how much worse going down was.

I finished the top of my arc and began my descent. I quickly saw Skyloft disappear and the bright desert yellow glow beneath me. I could feel it getting warmer the closer I got to the ground. I only had one chance to get this right. I caught a glimpse of the loose sand I got stuck in before. I angled my feet towards it and hoped that I would land there. I closed my eyes and held my breath. When I landed it felt like a million hot needles stabbing me everywhere. I felt sand cover my whole body including my head. I was completely engulfed.

I stopped moving and sat there. I couldn't open my eyes. I didn't know how deep I was, I just knew I was hot and I need to get out. I slowly reached my arm as far up as I could. I felt my breath getting harder to hold. I kept reaching and hoping for one thing... air. My hand was above the sand, I could feel the warm breeze. I waved frantically, trying to get attention or feel for anything to grab onto. There was no ledge. I kept shaking my hand around. My breath got weaker. I could hear my heart pounding in my head. I felt sand in every crevice of my body. The more I tried to get out the further I knew I would sink. All I could hope is for someone to see me.

After what felt like an eternity of painful breath-holding, I finally let it go. My body gasped for air but was just greeted with sharp sand. I was losing energy from my hand waving. Maybe this was going to be it. I tried to hold my breath again but there was nothing to hold but a mouthful of sand. I felt my hand collapse on the burning sand. Then, I felt two sharp knives dig into my arm. It ripped me out of the sand and I coughed up so much sand. I was in immense pain. My arm was covered in blood. I looked up and the talons of a large bird were gripping tight. I took an arrow with my other hand and stabbed its leg. The talons release me and I fell twenty feet onto my back on a landing. As much as it hurt, I was relieved for solid land.

I stood up and shook off as much sand as I could. My arm was pouring blood. Two deep divots pooled up with blood. I held my arm close to my stomach and tried to compress it. It was hot, very hot, very sweaty, very sandy. I looked around. There was a large temple behind me, but there was a sign in the distance that I quickly hobbled towards. It read "Gorge" and pointed towards the left. I looked left and in the distance saw another large sand waterfall. I began to walk as fast as I could but I was still very slow. I was losing blood and losing a lot of water from the heat. I noticed a door within the waterfall, and there were stepping stones in front of it.

Once I made it to the stepping stones it took all my energy to build up the strength to jump each one. I made it underneath the door but I had no way of getting up there. I jumped back to the ledge and noticed some of the time-shift crystal next to a robot. I tapped the crystal and a small area around the robot shifted. He had a little propeller on his head.

"Can you take me up there?" I pointed to the door.

"Zrrt. What business do you have seeing Master Thunder Dragon while he is unwell?" He asked me. I rolled my eyes.

"I need his help, please let me up there!" I demanded.

"Negative."

"Please, it is about the Tree of Life," I said. The little robot looked at me.

"I will- zzttttrrttt- help you up there. You have valuable information for Master Thunder Dragon. Hold my hand." He beeped and buzzed, I held his hand and he lifted me about a foot, but as soon as we left the field of the crystal he fell to the ground. I groaned and grabbed an arrow and picked a large chunk of crystal off. I held it in my wounded arm and grab the robot's hand again. He lifted back to life and the crystal field surrounded us. He lifted me again, but instead of bringing me to the door, he lifted me higher and over the large mountain in my way. It was tiring holding my weight by one arm. I didn't know how much longer I could hold out. My vision was going in and out. There was a loud ringing in my head. I soon saw in the distance the dinky old hut and a large skeleton. The robot slowly brought me down and I immediately dropped the crystal and sat on the ground for a second.

I had stopped sweating, goosebumps and cold chills went down my spine. My clock was about to run out of time. I stood up on my feet and took a few steps, my vision was spotty and blurry. I saw a figure open the door to the small hut, but before I could move towards it, I fell on my side. I stared up at the sun and passed out.

 _"You promised me a whole lot more, so I figured this was a fair bargain."_ An eerie female voice laughed evilly.

 _"I'll give you power, I'll give you money! Just don't hurt them!"_ A familiar male voice begged.

 _"I don't negotiate!"_ She screeched.

_"Ghirahim." Catto's voice spoke in the distance. "Goodbye."_

_"Catto, no!"_ The male voice was in fact Ghirahim's. The soft sound of a snap was heard.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up when I had the sudden urge to vomit, which lead to the predictable event of me actually vomiting. I had a bucket shoved into my face and I managed to keep my fluids inside of it. When I was done the bucket was taken away and I collapsed back down on my back.

I was in a bed. I knew that much. I peeled my eyes open and looked around. I was in the familiar old hut from before. Sitting in a small chair next to my bed was a familiar redhead. Her hair was pulled back this time. Revealing some distinctly rounded ears like mine. I got a jolt of excitement and tried to get up but she settled me back down.

"I have so many questions!" I exclaimed. She shushed me quietly. I lowered my voice. "Please, I need answers."

"You need to rest. You had a heat stroke." She explained. She took a cool rag and laid it on my forehead. It felt so refreshing. 

"Please, I know you know what's going on. I won't be able to rest right until I get answers." I stressed. She sighed and smiled as she rubbed her hands over her eyes in slight annoyance.

"Ok, what do you want to know?" She sighed.

"Why do you look like me? Are you human?" That was the first thing I needed to understand. I wanted to know why I was different.

"Yes, but I am not a goddess's human." She explained. "When I was fourteen I lived in a place called Chicago. I was an orphan and the year was 1979." I had never listened so hard to anything anyone has ever said before... not even in classes at the academy. "I was frustrated because I was a teenager and I probably wasn't going to get adopted anytime soon, so I ran away and started living on my own, which was basically on the streets. At one point I stole someone's wallet and it had a bus pass in it. You probably don't know what that is but it was a way for me to get out of there. I snuck on the bus and took it to a small town. I didn't know where I was but it was a ghost town. It used to be a hideout for people, which was perfect because I was trying to hide. I didn't realize it was a hideout for people practicing some sacrilegious things.

"So I went in and started having a look around. I ate some old food and tried to see what I could find. There was a mirror that was shattered on the floor but most of it was still intact. And it didn't show a reflection, it only showed clouds and birds flying. I thought it was a television, but again you won't know what that is. So I touched it and my hand went straight through. I felt a windy breeze and I could see my hand on the other side. I decided to put my head in. However, when I did, I slipped and fell through. Before I knew it I was falling through the sky. I was able to see floating islands and a town as I shot past it, but no one saw me or heard me screaming. I fell straight through the clouds and landed in Lake Floria and that's how I got here." She shrugged and finished her story. My mouth was dropped. She was either insane or telling the truth, at this point I was going to believe anything.

"So there are other worlds?" I asked, "Well how did you meet Ghirahim?"

"Well, that's what happened next. I fell into the lake in the middle of a huge battle between Ghirahim and the dragon, Faron. Ghirahim's troops had boats and were taking over a good portion of the lake while Faron fought back. I had the luck of falling in the middle of the lake during this. Faron saved me and was going to take me in, but Ghirahim stole me back. Of course, I didn't understand what they were saying because I didn't speak Hylian. I'd be honest, at first, I was mistakenly relieved to not be going with the dragon. Ghirahim had me work for him and taught me how to speak, read, and listen. He wouldn't let me leave the house, or if I did I was by his side. I watched him murder and kill and conquer. There was plenty of yelling and threats but I noticed that I was the one thing he wouldn't lay a harmful hand on. I took up healing and medicine as soon as I could read the books in the library. I would help whoever I could. With Ghirahim being immortal, I caught up with him age-wise.

"When I was nineteen I made a sailcloth and ran away to Skyloft. I hid out there for a while and met some great people, turned twenty, got a bird, and got really sick." She paused to take a deep breath. "I soon realized that I missed Ghirahim. He was an important part of who I was and circumstances brought me back to the surface, but I was really sick. It was hard for Ghirahim to watch me die. I think it really messed him up further than what Demise did to him. And when I died he felt like he failed." She looked down at the floor. "He rescued me. He used a spell to bring me back but it had a large cost. And because of the spell, I am stuck in the body of a twenty-year-old woman."

"Why did he save you? Why did he care for you so much?"

"He fell in love with me." She answered flatly. "And I had feelings for him, but it was a complicated relationship. After years of being around him, you notice that he isn't the character he puts on. He has a heart and he gets pretty lonely. Being raised by the evilest being in the world just takes a toll on you, yah know? And when I woke up after dying I saw him at his most vulnerable, he was really small and really scared. The spell he cast linked his life with mine, so I naturally felt more intimate with who he was. And since we were linked for life... we were married." She didn't smile when she said this even though it felt like a touching happy ending. Then I remembered that Ghirahim was in a different part of the world, and she was in a dinky hut.

"Why did you separate?"

"I got pregnant. There were a lot of people who hated us, understandably. I get it though, people don't change no matter what world you are in. Women who sleep with power guys are deemed as whores. And Ghirahim being with a human was seen as taboo. I had my baby and I decided to separate from him to protect us. It's harder to kill all of us when we aren't together."

"So there are more humans like us? Where are they?" My heart was racing. She was immortal, which means she could be the founder of a whole colony of people.

She laughed and shook her head. "How old do you think I am?" She giggled.

"I don't know, Ghirahim is ancient-"

"I got pregnant at twenty-two, I am now thirty-nine. This happened seventeen years ago." She stopped laughing but just smiled at me. She pointed to the walls of the hut which were covered in tally marks. I nodded but kept waiting for her to keep talking. She rolled her eyes, "God, you're as thick as your father. I left my baby in _Skylof_ _t_ with someone I knew would keep _her_ safe." She reached her hand out and caressed my cheek. I was frozen and without words.

"S-s-so, Ghirahim is my-" I tried to spit it out but I was shaking.

"Yes," She took her hand away.

"You're my mom?" I asked for clarification. She smiled and nodded but she looked sad regardless. "When did you find out? I had my hair and ears-"

"You're my daughter. I knew the second I saw you." She got up to grab my bag and my stuff. She gathered it together. I watched her quietly. She snagged her own bag and shoved some papers and books inside it.

"What are you doing?" I asked. I sat up taller and swung my feet off the side of the bed. I forgot how sick I really was. I got a quick rush of nausea. I took a deep breath and tried not to think about it.

"The point of us separating to stay safe only works if all three of us participate it in." She explained, "Since you've already been reunited with the two of us, and Ghirahim isn't strong enough to leave me alone, our best bet is to stay together. We are probably stronger now than before." 

"What about your dragon friend?" I asked.

"He should be fine, so long as the tree keeps growing in the past. The robots know how to take care of his wounds and medicine. He just prefers a real person to keep him company." She laughed and closed her bag.

"How-how are we getting back? We need water-"

"You think I lived with him that long and didn't learn how to teleport? Do you not remember yesterday?" She laughed and grabbed my arm to help me stand. I remembered that it was her that snapped her fingers and sent me back. I was weaker than I was expecting. She gave support, even though I was much taller than her. I held her tight and breathed deeply. She held all our stuff and looked around her hut one last time. And with a snap of her fingers, it was gone.

We stood on the front lawn of the house. The same dead grass and dead potted plants decorated it. It was overgrown and disgusting. Her face looked irritated. She scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something bad.

"He always hated begonias, but he didn't have to let them die." She complained. She started to walk towards the front door. "And it probably would have killed him to water the grass." She didn't seem too thrilled to be back. I was expecting her to be happier to see her husband after seventeen years. Then again, I'm not too thrilled to see my own father after twenty-four hours. 

She shoved open the door and I followed behind her, still leaning for support. I closed the door behind us. It was the same as I had left it. I was expecting her to call something to let him know we were here. Instead, she just had us pace around quietly. The old broken furniture was still in the pile that I left it in after cleaning the hall. She looked at it and shook her head. She walked towards the supply closet where I found the bandages and alcohol when I first came in. She opened the door, peeked in, and then closed it.

"That was the room he let me use when I would bring creatures back to heal." She explained. I looked over to the door that I still hadn't been in yet.

"What's that room?" I asked quietly pointing to the door.

"The ice-room." She said looking at the door. That made sense why it was so locked off. "But also, a prison." She added. I swallowed hard, a little relieved that it was locked. "That's why the medical stuff is so close to it." She shrugged. We began to walk down the hall and stood ourselves before the door to Ghirahim's room. She knocked lightly. We waited a couple of seconds and Ghirahim answered the door. He looked down at Catto without any expression and the peered over at me. He took a deep breath and then slammed the door in our faces. Catto shrugged it off and continued walking down the hall.

We made it to the library, and she opened the doors. She didn't walk in she just looked in from the hallway. She saw that it was all cleaned up and the nodded as she closed the door again. Then we made our way to what was my room. She opened the doors wide and walked in.

"All my art is still here." She mumbled. She walked over to the desk and picked up some of the journals on the desk. She flipped through them and smiled with hints of nostalgia. I went over and sat on the bed to rest and watch her as she examined the room silently. "This was my room growing up. I probably spent all my free time here."

"I'd argue that you spent more time in the library." A voice groaned from the door. We turned around and Ghirahim was leaning in the door frame with his arms crossed. "But what do I know?"

"How to hold a grudge." Catto spat.

"I'd say the same to you." He huffed; he didn't seem to care for the conversation.

"I don't have anything to hold a grudge against." Catto retorted.

"A blind fool could see through your deceptions." He looked up and around, avoiding her gaze.

"Well, what do you want me to do? What words do you want me to say? What will make your royal ass happy-"

"How about an apology, Catto?!" He yelled. He stood tall and proud in the doorway.

"I don't have anything to be sorry about." She crossed her arms and stared him down. He stared her in the face. He looked hurt by her answer and didn't respond. "I did what needed to be done."

"Well, I had it under control!" He gritted through his teeth.

"You really didn't." She rolled her eyes.

"Then what would you have wanted me to do?" She got stumped by his question. She had her mouth open but no words escaped. "I knew that I wasn't the most important person in your life at that moment." For a split second, Ghirahim let his face glance over at me. I got a feeling of shame wash over me. "Did you want me to swoop you up from your little dragon-land and bring you back here?" Catto looked down. She shook her head. "Then what? All it took was one look at that brat to get you melting into her palm and to do whatever she wanted!" He pointed at me but wouldn't look at me. "You wouldn't come back for me but you would break your so-called 'brilliant plan' to do what she wanted because you haven't seen _her_ in seventeen years!" Catto stood there quietly with her head down. I didn't know what to do but I figured it should be something.

"Just leave her alone." I managed to blurt out. Ghirahim growled in frustration and snapped his fingers. I was now inches away from his face. Before I had time to react he kicked me to the ground. Catto screamed out and ran to me on the floor.

"Know your place." He spat.

"Ghirahim!" Catto yelled.

"She's not my daughter," Ghirahim sassed. "She's the Hero's daughter." He turned around swiftly and left.


	9. Chapter 9

I sat on the bed in Catto's old room with my head down. She was looking through old things. She was messing with papers, books, and drawers. She wasn't looking for anything in particular, just looking. Ghirahim hadn't come back into the room, the door was wide open. There was a lot of silence. I still had a lot of questions and concerns. I was tired of thinking and my head was hurting because of it. Yet there were still constant thoughts that clogged thinking.

"He didn't mean it," Catto said, breaking the silence. Her voice had a short echo follow it from the large room. I laughed a little to myself in response. "Ok, maybe he did mean it. But you don't have anything to be ashamed of, Link is a great hero."

"Yeah, but he is a terrible dad." I groaned. She turned around and looked at me confused but then she just sighed and looked sad. "Why did you leave me with him, of all people?"

"I knew him. He owed me a pretty big favor." She shrugged. "I didn't think he would be bad father material. No one else would have kept you if they knew who you were."

"Why did he owe you a favor?" I asked.

"You've probably heard his story a billion times, right?" She asked; I nodded. "Yeah, let's just say that there are probably some details purposefully left out." She chirped and picked up a journal from her desk and set it off to the side with others. "He isn't a Mary Sue. He made mistakes that got him in trouble. And when someone like Ghirahim is watching you, he capitalizes on kicking you while you're down." I thought hard about what she was saying. Link left out two major things from the story now. First, it was that Groose guy, and now this. "At one point Ghirahim brought him back here to finish him off while he knew where Zelda was. If I hadn't let Link go..." Her voice trailed off. It was silent again.

"Why don't we leave?" I asked. "He clearly doesn't want us here."

"He will come around," Catto answered. She avoided the question. "You don't have to sit in here and keep me company. You can go explore the library or something if you'd like." She suggested.

"It's ok, I don't mind talking with you." I insisted. It still threw me off that either of these people could be my parents. While all the facts line up, They were both basically my age... forever. I was probably going to look older than both of them in a few years.

"I am sure you don't, but we have plenty of time to catch up and I don't want to hold you anymore captive than you've already been." She messed with some more papers and journals, looked at me, and smiled sadly. I figured I could use the walk to stretch my legs and look around some more at the house. I got up and walked towards the library. I opened the doors and walked in. I didn't exactly know what I wanted to read, or if I even wanted to read. Regardless, I paced around and looked at shelves with boring titles of history, languages, science, and countless other subjects. I walked over to the close corner of the room and the large grand piano reflected my face in it. I tapped a key and I got a chime. I pressed a few more and realized that it was out of tune.

I was bored for the most part, and this out of tune piano seemed like a simple enough mission. I didn't have any musical talent. So I figured I needed to find a book on music or even a book on how to tune a piano. I walked to a wall with books that stretched several stories up to the ceiling and moved the rolling library ladder to where I needed it. I skimmed all the way up the ladder for a music book and didn't find one. I did this every column of books. To the best of my luck, I found a small shelf of music books near the end of this wall. However, none on how to tune a piano. So I began to climb up the ladder for the twelfth time. I couldn't go any further because the track for the ladder ended and there was a small, old, balcony that was in the way. The entrance to the balcony was on one side with no ladder leading directly to it.

Something felt off from the balcony. It had a very dark old feeling in comparison to the rest of the library. I felt like there were things up there that might be interesting. I noticed a book on instrument tuning on the shelf where I was. I grabbed it and then slowly continued to climb up. I noticed that an old rusted ladder track went along the balcony and lead to the entrance. I studied my ladder track and realized then there was an opening at the end to hop my ladder over to the older track. I quickly climbed down the ladder. Catto walked into the library and looked concerned. Her eyes glimpsed at the ladder and the balcony.

"Wh-what are you doing?" She asked.

"Oh, I was looking for a book," I said holding the book up in my hand to show her. She looked nervous. "I was going to tune the piano. The music books were here." I pointed to the column of the bookshelf I was at. She shook her head and calmed herself down.

"Oh ok, that's really nice." She said. "Listen, I'm going to go talk to your father and sort things out. We all need to be mature together. If anything happens, let us know, but I wouldn't try to interrupt, ok?" Her voice was shaking, but I nodded and pretended not to notice.

"Alright, cool, I'll be here tuning the piano." I grinned, she didn't smile back, she still seemed nervous. She walked out of the library and the door shut behind her. I waited a couple of minutes and then set the book down on the floor. I quickly grabbed the ladder and began shaking it and pulling it off the track. The ladder was heavy and tall. I was able to inch it over bit by bit. My neck strained as I looked up at the top of the ladder and tried to maneuver it over more. I heard a satisfying _click_ as the wheels connected to the old track. I slowly moved the ladder over to the balcony entrance. Once it was there, I quickly climbed up and stepped inside.

There was an old, dark, wooden table in the middle with piles of dusty old books opened and lying about. Many pages either faded with age or were caked with dust. There were a few old shelves that sat mainly empty. The titles ranged from prophecy and future detecting to soul sacrificing in dark magic. I tried to read some of the open books.

_Interspecies offspring exists. It is often considered taboo through many cultures. It should not be practiced and avoided by all means available. It has been forbidden by the gods. This section will cover all known cases of interspecies offspring and what is known. This section will cover Human parental interspecies offspring. Many consider interspecies breeding with humans as homunculi, however, this is a misconception..._

The words got too faded but I was able to make out some subheadings.

_Humans and Gorons offspring_

_Compatibility: Goron Mother_   
_Risk: Low- Maternal Mortality Rate: 13%_   
_Offspring State: Will develop an iron and mineral abundance/deficiency and will cause health difficulties_   
_Offspring life expectancy: Seven years_

_Compatibility: Human Mother_   
_Risk: High- Maternal Mortality Rate: 93%_   
_Offspring State: Will develop an iron and mineral abundance/deficiency and will cause health difficulties_   
_Offspring life expectancy: Two years_

I was a bit uncomfortable but I figured I should keep reading

_Humans and Waterfolk offspring_

_Compatibility: Waterfolk Mother_   
_Risk: Low- Maternal Mortality Rate: 23%_   
_Offspring State: Will have difficulty secreting mucus to maintain skin health. Will likely collect an infection before the immune system finishes development_   
_Offspring life expectancy: One year_

_Compatibility: Human Mother_   
_Risk: Moderate- Maternal Mortality Rate: 40%_   
_Offspring State: Will not survive_   
_Offspring life expectancy: No known cases of infant survival_

Everything got faded and hard to understand so I began to turn some pages and then my eyes locked on to what was on one page.

_Humans and Demon offspring_

_Compatibility: Demon Mother_   
_Risk: Low- Maternal Mortality Rate: 0%_   
_Offspring State: Will not survive. Demon wombs are too hostile for the fetus_   
_Offspring life expectancy: No known cases of infant survival_

_Compatibility: Human Mother_   
_Risk: Moderate- Maternal Mortality Rate: 100%_   
_Offspring State: Will not survive, Offspring will eat the mother from inside out. Once the mother is dead offspring will not survive_   
_Offspring life expectancy: No known cases of infant survival*_

_*This is the most dangerous and forbidden relationship within the laws of nature. The strength of the human soul combined with the capabilities of demonic magic and has an unknown relationship. Their combination with each other creates an Ako-_

The page was torn out in half and the next one was torn out. I groaned frustratedly. I slammed the book shut and looked around. There were prophecies for the apocalypse and other useless shit. One was titled "The most powerful human" which I got frustrated with. I knew that story already. Link already thwarted that prophecy. The only thing related to me up here was torn out. I realized I had been up here a while. I could hear shouting in the distance with Ghirahim and Catto. I knew that Ghirahim or Catto probably had the other papers hidden somewhere. I just needed to work on the piano some so they aren't suspicious when they come in here. I quickly climbed down the later but one of the steps broke under me and I fell onto the floor. It was loud and I groaned loudly in pain. I realized I needed to move fast.

I quickly stood up and rolled the ladder back to the end of the old track. I needed to move it over to the other track again and I needed to do this quickly and quietly. The older track for the ladder was rusted and wasn't budging. I shook it over and over to try and loosen it but it wouldn't move. My heart was pounding. I thought I heard footsteps walking down the hall. So I did what I could and with all my force pushed the ladder off the old track and I saw it come loose. I snapped it right back onto the original track and heard the _click_ of it in place. I snatched up the book and sprinted across the room and leaped over the back of the reading couch right as the doorknob was turning. I lied there casually pretending to read. Catto poked her face in.

"Is everything ok?" She asked. I nodded looking up from the book. "Sorry, we thought we heard you fall." She looked around. I shook my head and shrugged.

"Must have been a bird," I said. She furrowed her eyebrows in suspicion. That was a dumb thing to say. "Like from outside?" I clarified. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't seem mad.

"Okay..." She hummed to herself. She closed the door and left.

I shot up quickly and began doing everything I could to tune this damn piano. I picked up some tools that were placed inside the piano and began to use them. I had no idea what sounds I was looking for. I just did what I felt was right. I was doing a very poor job but it was sounding nicer than before. I don't think this was a job meant for a non-musician. I had grease and dust all over me. After several minutes of tuning and playing random annoying notes the doors to the library opened again. Ghirahim and Catto were standing there. I sat up quickly to look at them.

"Is it tuned yet?" Catto questioner and walked over to the piano. Ghirahim quietly trailed behind her with his head down looking away from me.

"I mean, not really." I sighed. "I'm probably not the best person for this. Music wasn't a skill I mastered while growing up shunned and sheltered." I heard Ghirahim exhale loudly in amusement. I didn't let it bother me.

"It's alright, we can teach you. And I am sure we can play with whatever you have tuned up." Catto sat at the piano and grinned. She began to play a scale that sounded good but was very out of tune. The high notes were on a cringy frequency that made our heads hurt. Ghirahim picked up the violin and began to tune it as well. "You can keep a beat for now if you want?" Catto suggested.

"You guys get started, I'm going to head to the bathroom and join in a few minutes." I took some steps back and exited the library. They began their duet. I quietly slipped into my bedroom and went to Catto's old desk. She had organized a lot of the journals and books on it. I began to quickly flip through the pages and shaking the covers to hope for something to fall out. I opened some drawers and dug through any papers I could find. None of them were from the book I was reading. I knew that Ghirahim must have it then. I could still hear the music playing so I slipped right back out the door and went down the hall to the master bedroom. I quietly opened the door and shut it behind me. I went over to Ghirahim's desk which was covered in books and papers like always. Most of the things on his desk were about magic and spells though. I shifted through his books looking for anything torn or super old. I was going to open one of the drawers on the desk but it was locked.

Where would I keep a key? Where would I keep a super-secret key? A shoe. I didn't know if it would work but it was worth a shot, we were related after all. I went into the closet and began shaking every one of his shoes I saw, hoping something would fall out. I shook every single shoe on his side which I then realized was dumb when I saw all of Catto's old shoes on the other side of the closet. I took the first pair of really fancy blue heals and shook them, out popped a key. I could still hear the music playing across the house which gave me an estimate for how long I had.

I took the key and ran back into the room and put it into the keyhole. I turned it and a click unlocked the drawer. I pulled it open. It wasn't quite as messy but there were a lot of papers inside. There were also a handful of vials with a dark crimson substance. I made out a vial that said "Hero", but when I saw the one that said "Catto" I got more uncomfortable with what I was finding. I shifted through papers. There were so many. A lot seemed like letters from a very dark time, but I only skimmed a few works to see if it was from the book. In the back corner was a leather-bound journal. I pulled it out and flipped through the pages. Inside there were a few pages cleanly folded marking a section of the journal. I unfolded the pages.

_...mus, which has only had one recorded being. Due to his immense power, Demon King Demise was able to thrive off of his genetic makeup. He was able to survive after killing his mother in the third trimester. How this was possible is unknown. This made him the only recorded Akomus know to history. For this reason, Hylia did not want to endanger-_

I stopped reading because something else locked my eyes. On the pages in the journal that I was at there was something that I couldn't get my eyes to leave. It was a bunch of bulleted thoughts written down.

_Week 35_

_Catto is healthy as normal_   
_Baby has heartbeat as normal_   
_Going to need to have ice and water ready... the peak of summer is approaching._   
_The pregnancy has a 90% success rate_   
_It will be an Akomus_

_Akomin_

It didn't seem super correlated, just a quick entry for the journal. But the last word was circled and underlined with harsh lines. Something about that kept my eyes locked to it. I stopped looking at it when I heard the music stop. I quickly closed the book and shoved it in the drawer, I began fumbling with the key but right as I put it in the lock it poofed away from my hands. I spun around. Ghirahim held the key. I heard running down the hall and Catto busted through the doors. Ghirahim held the key tight.

"And I thought you were a bad liar, Catto." He spat without turning to look at her. He snapped again and the journal was in his other hand. "The women in my life are little less than disgraces." I thought that was a bit sexist but I didn't want to say it. He opened the book to the page I was on. "Week 35, I realized I married an idiot and I was going to have a dimwitted baby that was going to disappoint my name in every single way." Wow, that stung. He slammed the book shut.

"Ghirahim, we talked about this, you said-" Catto started to talk to him and take some steps towards us.

"Catto, I told you that if she was going to be a dumbass that I would treat her like one." He was still staring at me, nothing broke his gaze into me.

"Yeah, but she doesn't know-"

"Seventeen years later this baby shows up at my door with a pathetic costume and a head full of dreams. I gave her sympathy, food, shelter, and she can't even respect some simple privacy." His voice was low and sharp. His words stung. "She thinks she's _so_ smart and grown even though she can't even use her powers yet. All she can do is run and cry and burn a few hands. So she tries to sleuth her way through everything to make up for her failures in everything else." Tears were falling down my face. "Guess what, I'm giving you the answers you want. Do you want to know your name? Congratulations, you figured it out. Now you can move on from the first seventeen years of your life and become the renewed daughter of the demon lord that you were meant to be, AKOMIN!"


	10. Chapter 10

I stayed silent. I didn't want to speak. He was right. I may not have been looking for my name, but I was looking for answers. I wanted reasons so I could understand myself and move on from who the people of Skyloft convinced me I was.

"She was going to find out eventually!" Catto argued, "If we are going to be a family and stuck in this house for eternity, did you think you would never give her a name?"

"What do you mean we are going to live here for eternity?" I asked fearfully. I choked through my tears and looked at her, behind Ghirahim.

"We are all stuck here." She groaned. "We can't leave the protection of this house. Now that we are all together its like a beacon of our aura is drenched around us. Anyone determined enough can track us down." Catto explained. "That was the whole point of us being separated. We can't leave, besides we are stronger together."

"Stronger together?" I asked in dismay. "We aren't even together!"

"Well, we have no choice, we have to get along. We won't survive each other or the crazy people it we don't." Catto begged.

"That isn't ever going to happen, he hates everything about me!" I exclaimed.

"For once in a millennium I can agree with a hero on something." Ghirahim growled. My teary eyes shot back to glare at him.

"Stop calling me that!" I spat at him.

"You're right, you're not a hero, you're a sad excuse for a hero." He laughed sarcastically.

"I said stop calling me that!" I screeched at him.

"Why, going to run home to your little hero daddy and tell him what I did?!" He egged on. I was getting angrier and angrier. I wasn't a fucking hero. I never was let on that I could ever be a hero. People drowned me with expectations to fail. They set me up for fauler and wanted me to fail. I never got the chance to prove I could be a hero.

"He is NOT my father! I am nothing like him!" I insisted.

"Are you sure about that? Or do you refuse to just see the similarities?"

"I am nothing like him!" I repeated louder. Catto looked scared at me. But she wasn't looking at me as a person. She was looking at me as a hazard.

"Ghirahim stop, you see what you're doing to her!" She ran up to him and grabbed his arm to get his attention. He didn't give her any.

"The way you march around thinking you can do anything, the hope you have for the future, the way you drive yourself to make the stupidest blind decisions, all of those are just simple characteristics of the hero that have passed to you." He persisted. I felt my face and hands get warm and sweaty. I felt like I was burning with hatred. Before I knew it, I was running at him. He pushed Catto away gently and readied himself. I reached my hand out towards his face. I heard the sizzling of heated metal. He just laughed and grabbed my wrists. I was able to kick my leg up to get him in the jaw. He dropped my wrists and grabbed his mouth.

"Stop it, both of you!" Catto yelled. She ran up to Ghirahim and tugged on him. He brushed her away.

"Tell her why you won't touch her, Catto!" He demanded. She looked at me and didn't say anything. I looked across the room into the window. I saw the slight transparent reflection of myself. My hair was fully engulfed in flames and my skin was pale white with heat. He brought his fist back for a punch. I braced myself, I burned with anger and was ready to take the hit. Right before I saw the punch impact my stomach Catto stepped between us. Ghirahim couldn't stop himself in time. He punched her into me. She fell back into my arms. She cried in pain and I felt the skin under my hands soften and melt a bit. I let go quickly and stepped away. Her arms were scorched and red. Ghirahim looked horrified.

"What have you done?!" He yelled at me. He ran to her and held her tight in his arms. I could hear her quietly gasping in pain and she clenched her stomach.

"I didn't mean to!" I exclaimed. "You're the one who punched-"

"Stop!" Catto yelled after catching her breath. She pushed herself away from Ghirahim's arms. "We have to stop." I looked at her burns and more tears welled up in my eyes.

"Catto, I'm sorry-"

"Akomin," She said, looking at Ghirahim and then back at me. "I'm ok," She turned towards Ghirahim and held his hand. He looked dazed. "You can't fix what happened. But you can help fix her. Before you knew who she was, you let her stay. You helped her before for a reason." Ghirahim took a deep breath and dropped his head.

"I saw you, " he quivered. "every time I looked at her.

"Then please," She let go of his hand and put her palm on his cheek. He sunk his face into her hand and closed his eyes. Ghirahim took her hand down from his face and took a deep inhale. He turned towards me and exhaled while opening his eyes. He raised his hand and a slight glow was emitted from it. I felt my body cool and my nerves calm. I felt all my anger drift away.

"You have a lot of fears," Ghirahim said after putting his hand down. I nodded in agreement. "You will kill yourself with your emotional powers if you don't control them." I nodded again. It was quiet. He looked back towards Catto and took another deep breath. "I will train you how to use your powers."

"I have more-?"

"Of course you have more powers!" He mimicked my voice a bit annoyed. "You are my blood, it is a bit of a truism." I smiled slightly to myself at the thought.

"Are you going to be able to be comfortable in that form?" Catto asked him a bit concerned. He turned to her.

"You mean in my own skin? Of course, I will be comfortable. Is it practical? Absolutely not." He smirked a little to himself and then walked over to his desk and opened the drawer. He pulled out the small vial of blood labeled "Catto." He opened it and poured a few drops onto his palm, and then a drop into his large glass dish. He put the vial away and started using some spelled on the drop in the dish. As he worked he disgustingly licked the drops from his hand while he continued. I gagged a little and Catto recoiled with a small gasp. He looked up for a second and laughed. "Humans..." He finished what he was doing in the bowl and dipped his finger into the small droplet in the dish. He dabbed it on his chest crystal and walked quickly into his closet and shut the door.

After a few moments the doorknob turned from the inside and a human man walked out. He had pale grey skin, was a bit shorter and a narrow face. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown, and his hair was still a clean white. His hair was shaggy and messy, it went down to about his chin and was knotted and unkempt. He had one ear the poked through his hair as a pointed Hylian ear, and the other was tucked underneath the mess. He was wearing some sort of white bodysuit with diamond cutouts.

"I forgot that this form had way too much my estrogen for my liking." He spoke, it was definitely Ghirhaim's voice, but it had a bit more feminine rhythm. His hair fell in his face and he glared at the locks interrupting his vision. "It is a bit more flexible, but it seems as though I am bit more blind." He pushed them behind his ears. I could now see that one of them was small and rounded like mine and Catto's.

"Looks like you'll need a haircut." Catto giggled at him. He smiled at her, he seemed a lot happier now.

"Please, darling." He laughed back. I didn't know how to react. I could now see a bit better that he was definitely my father. He was just this gruesome, angry, demon that just beat the shit out of me and hated me. Now he's happy and calm. It was almost an instant mood swing. I watched him look at Catto as she laughed. Now that he had distinct eyes, I could see that nothing broke his gaze from her. He was absolutely, unequivocally, in love with her.


	11. Chapter 11

"Take a deep breath and try to expel any frustrations." Ghirahim's voice explained to me. My eyes were closed and the breeze tickled my face. I felt the dead grass under my toes and began to calm down. "Now that we are calm we may begin." I opened my eyes. We were in the front yard of the house but still within the protective barrier. Catto sat on the porch watering and planting some flowers.a Ghirahim had gotten his hair cut by Catto earlier. She helped to shape it to his approval, which was a strange, yet flattering, buzzed look with a long bang that covered the left half of his face.

"What are we going to do today?" I asked. He said yesterday that he was going to start training me, I felt as ready as ever.

"We are going over some basics." He explained, "Your mind and soul are vessels." He walked towards me and paced around me. "You have to understand your limits and capitalizations. If not, you will fail and wither yourself away. This not only goes for physical form but spiritual as well." He stopped in front of me and pointed his index finger up. "Rule number one: You are limited to the form that you possess." I nodded but tried to understand it further. "You can see that we are both in humanoid forms, we are limited to what is possible within this form, but our spiritual forms are demons, so we maintain our powers and can manipulate our outcome a little more. When this flesh is injured to the point of human death, the form will shatter and I revert to my demonic being."

"Why wouldn't you die too?" I asked confused. He liked the power of knowledge over me, I could tell.

"Because the spiritual form is everyone's core being. You can only die if something of equal or stronger power kills you." He explained.

"So like how Link used the Goddess' power to vanquish Demise?" I clarified, Ghirahim's face twitched a little.

"You could say that if you wanted to..." He grumbled. "Anyway, if my humanoid form shatters, my body has no choice to revert back to my demonic form."

"Why change out of demon form then?" I asked,

"Akomin, do you like your fleshy body?" He asked rhetorically. I nodded. "Can you imagine being three times as heavy and a foot taller?" I shrugged. "Not just that but there is so much..." He paused to think of the correct word "... expression, when it comes to deciding which humanoid form suits yourself. I went through hundreds during the war. You'd find a decent one, but eventually it shatters and you can't find the original host. And sometimes they aren't good enough and you change your mind."

"So Catto is your host?" I asked. He nodded and looked over towards her. She paid little to no attention as she tended to her plants. "So what about me? Do I have a big metal demon body or something?"

"I don't know." Ghirahim huffed. He snapped his fingers and a small throwing knife was in his hand. He took the blade and slid it down his forearm. Instead of blood oozing from the slice, his dark metallic skin filled the gap. "You bleed when you're injured. You are also the only other known Akomus besides my master, he didn't humble himself to other bodies. There is still a lot to learn about what you are, until then we just have educated guesses."

"Well, what's your educated guess about me?" I asked eagerly. He rolled his eyes.

"You either have a stronger-than-normal bond between your two forms. That mean your humanoid body will take more damage and try to preserve itself better. Or that is the only form you have and if it dies then you die." My eyes widened in shock. "Or you're nosey and I am just making all this up so we can continue with the lesson." I grumbled to myself loudly in response to his attitude. I was getting bored with the lack of information that I actually wanted to learn.

"So let's get on with the lesson then." I insisted in a disappointed voice.

"We are going to start with summoning. It is a necessary skill that paves the way for many others. It is easiest to summon something if you know where it is. Therefore, I would like you to focus on the flower pot over there." He pointed at the pot that Catto was watering. "I want you to envision it floating towards you and then, once you're ready, to reach out and grab it."

I closed my eyes and focused hard. I tried to capture every detail of the pot floating towards my hands across the yard. Just as it was in front of me I opened my eyes in excitement to grab it, but nothing was there. I looked over and Catto was watering the plant next to the pot I was working with. It hadn't moved an inch.

"You failed." Ghirahim chuckled, I shot a glare at him. "Ease yourself and focus, don't get excited. The visual aid gives you a cue as for when the actual summoning will take place. Now, try again." I closed my eyes and envisioned the whole thing all over again. Except for this time I kept my eyes closed all the way through. I reached my hands out to grab the vase but once again I felt nothing. I imagined watching the vase slip between my hands. I felt a huge shove throw me back onto my ass. I opened my eyes and watched the vase crash down from about thirty feet in the air to where I was standing.

"The hell?!" I shouted in fear. Catto was walking over quickly and looking panicked.

"Maybe that's enough for today?" Catto suggested. "I know you don't like begonias but we don't have to shatter them all. Besides, that pot could've killed her." I felt like her reasoning was backwards.

"No, she has to learn. She can't expect everything to go her way the first try. She is the only reason she is messing up." Ghirahim explained. I grunted as I stood up to my feet.

"You aren't teaching it right then!" I snapped. "You didn't explain anything."

"I shouldn't have to." He corrected, "You can't focus and that is your fault. The threshold you're trying to meet is when the pot actually meets your hand. That is all you should allow it to do. Do not get distracted."

"I wasn't distracted! That's what I was doing!" I yelled.

"Clearly not, otherwise I would not have had to be so selfless and push you away from possible imminent death." I closed my eyes again and focused on a new pot from the porch. I focused and concentrated and was about to grab the pot, I felt the ceramic vase press against my hand, it startled me and I jerked back. I opened my eyes and watched the vase crash down and shatter on the ground.

"Now you're letting fear dictate you." Ghirahim sassed. I growled.

"That was an accident!" I snapped at him.

"Accident or not, if you lay a timid foundation you're sure to choke under pressure."

"I'd like to see you almost die from a stupid pot and then not flinch," I yelled. He laughed very loudly.

"I wouldn't, do you know why, Akomin?" He taunted, I didn't respond in hopes he would stop but he, of course, didn't. "Because I know a stupid pot won't kill me." I was fuming at his response but there was a bit of truth that struck me. "Catto, you may have been right, we should end the lesson here. There won't be much more progression from her today." Ghirahim linked his arm with her and Catto looked towards me to indicate that I should follow. I shook my head.

"I'm staying out until I get it." I insisted.

"With the track that you're on, you will run out of pots before you get it right." Ghirahim giggled to himself.

I ignored him and closed my eyes again and tried to get another pot from the front porch. I got so close, but I was again startled by the pot and ended up breaking it. I cursed under my breath and tried again. I began to sit on the ground so that way there was less of a chance of the pots breaking.

I worked all night. I kept missing, breaking, or was unable to move the pots at all. Hours went by and nightfall was coming quick. I didn't understand how complicated this could be. He made it seem so easy. Even Catto was able to transport us and use some basic powers. My sanity was boiling over, but I did my best to control my breathing to stay calm like I was told.

As dusk fell, I saw Catto open the front door with a lantern. She walked towards me and I tried to compose myself for her. She had her comforting smile resting on her face. I gave her a small beam back.

"It's getting late, Akomin." She stated. I nodded showing her I understood. "I made some stew, it might still be a little warm in case you wanted any."

"I might get some later, I'm still practicing." I responded.

"I don't want you to stay out all night. I know he is cocky and annoying but you need rest."  
  
"I almost got it. I won't be much longer."

Catto defeatedly nodded and set the lantern down next to me and walked back inside. I continued to practice and tried to focus in but I was definitely getting tired. Several more hours ended up passing. I remembered what Ghirahim said about not being scared. I needed confidence, but how do I suddenly get some?

"Why not use the skills you already have to your advantage." A voice whispered around me, I thought I was going crazy. I got a bit startled and took a few steps back. "You need a threshold you understand." Was I really that tired?

I was out of pots. All I had left was the lantern and I really couldn't mess this up. I walked about twenty feet away from it and closed my eyes. Instead of imagining what I had been, I visualized it like a target ready for an arrow to be shot at it. I took a deep breath. This lantern couldn't hurt me. The moment where I would normally release my quiver, I felt the lantern firmly in my grasp. I opened my eyes and saw the little glow of the flame inside. Just to test it again, I set down the lantern and took another twenty steps away. Another inhale and the same technique. The lantern was safe in my grasp. I knew how to focus and aim for an object this whole time, I just needed to do it my way.

I played around and got quicker and quicker at the process as I went. I was getting so excited about my graduation. I held tight to the lantern and ran inside. I ran down the dark hallway, completely oblivious that it was the middle of the night. I busted through the master bedroom doors and Ghirahim shot up from his slumber instantly. Catto was cozy in bed in a pretty nightgown and had some reading glasses on as she journaled in the dim candlelight illuminating from her nightstand. Ghirahim was shirtless and his hair was a mess. He looked extremely annoyed that he was woken.

"I got it," I exclaimed in eureka. I set my lantern down on the ground and walked to the other side of the room and shower them. Catto clapped happily.

"Congratulations, you finished the easiest part of your training. Now please put out the lights so I can go back to sleep." Ghirahim fell back into his side of the huge bed and covered his face in pillows. Catto looked at me and had a wide grin.

"I knew you could do it. Now go get some rest. I'll make you some breakfast in the morning so you're ready for your next lesson." She encouraged. I walked myself out of the master bedroom and down the hall to my bedroom.

I opened the doors and my lantern went out quickly when a strong breeze blew against me. The balcony doors had been wide open and the room and gotten chilled from it. It was peculiar because I made sure they were closed this morning. I brushed it off as Ghirahim or Catto could have been in here earlier while I was outside. I quickly put on my pajamas and went to sleep in my bed. I felt the weight of something much bigger lying ahead of me. It was exciting, I almost couldn't get to sleep. Almost.


	12. Chapter 12

A few months had passed of training. I would love to say I was advancing quickly, but that was not the case. Some things would amaze Ghirahim and Catto with my advanced understanding and success. Other things would feel like two steps backward. I had mental training and physical training. I worked hard to get to where I was at, I also felt like there was some sort of relationship building between me and Ghirahim throughout it all. However, no amount of preparing or studying could prepare Ghirahim and me for the news we were about to be a part of.

We were practicing the use invisible forces. From what I was understanding, it was things like levitations. It also included pushing and shoving items. There were a bunch more things that fell into that category, but I was working on some simple rocks as well as Ghirahim. Catto walked outside and stood anxiously on the porch. Ghirahim and I paused.

"Is everything alright?" Ghirahim asked concerned.

"I'm pregnant." She blurted. We stood silently in shock. I personally wasn't able to hide my expression. Ghirahim's face seemed hard to read, however. I was at a loss for words entirely. Ghirahim walked up to her.

"You've known a while... haven't you?" He asked flustered.

"Two months, now." She smiled slightly. "So I'm probably finishing up my first trimester now.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked her.

"There was still a lot of tension, I was hoping for it to die down. I was also hoping it was a false alarm." She laughed nervously.

"Still, you could easily have mentioned it to me when you noticed signs," Ghirahim growled. "Now we have another mouth to feed, another body of aura to mask, and another earful to listen to."

"I-I'm confused." I interjected, "I thought I was one in a million. How is this pregnancy going to work out? It's one thing that AFTER the baby is born that it'll be a problem, but can it even be born? Does that mean there's going to be another Akomus?"

"Not necessarily," Ghirahim responded in a condescending tone. "There's a chance that this child is 100% human."

"How?"

"Well, human souls are very powerful and very consuming. The Hylia created them specifically to be immortal and also able to withstand corruption. So if the soul, in mathematical terms, is at least fifty-one percent human, it will overtake the demonic portion and become entirely human."

"What about demon souls?" I asked.

"Demonic souls are parasitical. Therefore, if it's at least fifty-one percent demon it will have the reversed effect and devour the human portion of the soul. It will maintain some human characteristics, such as a physical form." He gestured towards me. "the soul will still become demonic."

"So wouldn't that mean-" I began but I was interrupted.

"That it will eat me from the inside out? That's a strong possibility. But I have a higher percentage of maintaining the baby since I'm immortal, a different type of human, and have given birth to a demonic baby in the past." Catto explained.

"So what are your chances now?" I asked her. She shrugged and thought about it.

"I'd say about thirty-five percent of survival if it's an entire demon baby." She nodded and looked at Ghirahim who also nodded in agreement.

"Sorry for all the questions," I muttered while getting frustrated. "But where are all these crazy numbers coming from? I thought humans an demons didn't hook up or try and start family, especially not recently. So how are you calculatinf these things if I'm still the only living proof of it working out?" Not even Ghirahim seemed as worried as I was.

"I have other resources besides the silly excerpt you glimpses over. I also studied Catto's body during her last pregnancy, I understood how strong her soul is, and I have been able to calculate all the percentages." Ghirahim babbled on, giving himself a lot of credit.

"Oh, so you're a personal calculator to follow us around and spout pointless statistics to." I grumbled. "You don't even seem worried by the danger at hand, she's in danger and it's your fault."

"We are already in danger, this is just another obstacle-" she corrected.

"Yeah, but we shouldn't be sitting here letting you possibly develop something that will kill you!" I exclaimed. "Do either of you care?"

"We have already been down this road. There's nothing we can do at this point." She tried to calm me down.

"I'm seventeen and somehow I feel like the mature one out of the three of us. I don't need another sibling seventeen years younger than me. I don't need a sibling that could kill my mom right after I got her back! Actually, I don't want a sibling. I don't want another fucking sibling!"

"You're talking big for the person who united us and put us in danger in the first place." Ghirahim laughed. "We are in danger regardless, this is just a drop in the bucket."

"You're just going to act like nothing is wrong here? Or do you just not want to take the blame of getting her pregnant in the first place?" I spat. His face twitched with annoyance.

"You are the last person to tell me how I feel about her safety." He took a few deep breaths to calm down.

"At least I treat her like a person and not some prize. No one else can have her because she's your property. As long as you have her you don't care what else happens. She's pregnant and you don't care because, in the end, you'll find a way to keep her safe but not the baby."

"If she were my property, Akomin, I wouldn't be having children with her in the first place. I would have her chained up and doing my bidding." He seethed.

"And keeping her in a house her whole childhood isn't keeping her captive? Do you hear yourself? You didn't rescue her, you brainwashed her!" I yelled. Catto looked irritated.

"I have a voice and I can say that I have not been brainwashed, I've been my own person my whole life!" She yelled.

"Yeah but here you are back doing what he wants and depending on him to keep you safe!"

"Akomin I think you're way outside of your jurisdiction here." Catto shook her head disappointedly. It hurt a little to see her not smiling and looking at me like that. I turn to Ghirahim and snapped my fingers. I teleported him fifty feet in the air and watched him fall. He quickly disappeared into a cloud of diamonds and reappeared in my face looking mad.

"I wouldn't pick this fight, Akomin." He growled.

"Because you'll lose?" I snarled at him. He snapped his fingers and his long black sword appeared in his hand. I snapped mine and had my bow loaded in my hands.

"No, no, no, NO!" Catto yelled and pushed us away from each other. She stood facing me with her back towards Ghirahim. "We've been cooped up a while and it's getting to us. Get inside. I'll come to get you for dinner." She ordered. I had my bow disappear and marched inside without a word. She was sending me to my room like a child. Honestly, the less I can see of them both right now the better.

Catto was always on my side. Now, having her against me felt heartbreaking. Especially when I'm just concerned about her safety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so honored that you are still here and reading this story. Please continue to enjoy it. I'd really appreciate it if you gave some feedback with a comment, or supported my writing with a kudos or subcribe. every one counts. I will start giving shout outs to everyone who does.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pretty violent chapter ahead*  
> If you don't want to read it, Scroll to the endnotes where it will be summed up.

_Knock Knock_

I growled from my bed. It had been about an hour or so since I came inside from my outburst on Catto. I spend a good bit sulking about what just happened but I was just coming to my senses. I still stood by what I said. I was determined to stick to it too.

_Knock knock knock_

I felt like I could respond to Catto at my door, or I could ignore her. Regardless she was still going to come in eventually. The knocking continued intermittently. I covered my face in pillows to drown it out. It did not do much justice. The knocking end up stopping. I lifted my head and I saw the door slowly crack open.

"Are you clothed?" Ghirahim whispered, I groaned annoyed to myself.

"Yeah," I responded. Ghirahim pushed the rest of the door open and walked in with a tray of food. He came over and set it on my bed. When he approached my bed I grumpily turned over on my side to face away from him.

"You don't have the right to talk to her like that." He muttered as I heard him set the tray down on my nightstand. I ignored him. "I like to think, sometimes, that I am better than what myself and others make me out to be. Catto is the only person in the world who has convinced me that if I try I can be... good." I pulled a pillow over my head but I could still hear him. "It kills her every day to see you grown without her being a part of your life. My only wish was to give her that opportunity again." I jerked up and threw my pillow at him. He dodged it but it hit the tray and had the dishes crash on the floor, spilling food everywhere.

"So possibly killing her or bringing another taboo kid into this family is you looking out for her well being?!" I yelled at him. He was startled. "You are truly obtuse."

"You're not a taboo child!" He exclaimed.

"Well, the rest of the world disagrees." I huffed. I stood up and shoved him out of my way. He snapped his fingers and disappeared. I marched out the door and down the hall. I made it to the front door. "If you both want a do-over to make up for fucking up me then just say so!" I screamed into the hall. I opened the front door and started to speed walk. I snapped my fingers and my bow was in my hand and my arrows were sheathed on my back. I kept walking and I looked back when I heard Ghirahim yell something I couldn't make out. He was in the doorway yelling at me. I turned around and shrugged. "What are you going to do? Follow me?" And with that, I marched off the dead grass from the front lawn into the lush green of the rest of the forest. For the first time in months I was going to get out of there. And I was going to get as far away as I could for the time being. Maybe in six months they will realize their mistake and apologize when I'm back.

I began to march proudly through the forest. I knew that I had matured enough to handle whatever dumb creature of the Faron woods could throw at me. I could snap my fingers and appear in a tree fifty feet away. Or maybe even snap my fingers and make some poisonous berries go into their stomach. The possibilities were endless. Maybe while I was out here I could meet a cool magical being and get a cooler better family or friends that will care about my feelings for once.

I turned back to see how far I had gotten from the house. I could make out the specks of Catto and Ghirahim at the edge of the yard, still within the protective enchantment. I turned around and give them a middle finger. I turned around and took off in a sprint, but I didn't make it very far.

"Snowhead?" A confused voice spoke loudly in the distance. I turned around, there was a figure in the distance followed by a Loftwing. I began to walk towards it, unfortunately, it was back closer towards the house where Ghirahim and Catto were. After approaching the figure, my heart because to race. It was Mable.

"Mable?" I said loudly and she squealed in excitement. I didn't realize how big of a grin was plastered on my face. I darted towards her. We were still a good hundred yards or so from the house, I just felt uncomfortable knowing they were watching me. One of the Great Tree's large stray root had made its way into this part of the forest and it loomed over us.It had a lot of stray branches sticking out which she used to tie up her Loftwing. I continued to glance over at Ghirahim and Catto as they watched. She ran up to me and jumped into my arms. I was a bit shocked but I spun her around and held her tight. I had missed her hugs, I missed her warmth, I missed her so much. I held onto her and pressed my face against her chest.

"Oh my god, I can't believe I found you." She laughed. I finally let go of her and her eyes glistened with tears.

"You were looking for me? After all this time?" I choked up on my word.

"I mean, I have to admit, most of the time I was just looking for a body, but this is so much better." She grabbed my hands and squeezed them. "We all thought you were dead. Link held a small service for you in the graveyard last month. I never thought I would see you again. Zelda kept assuring me you were ok though."

"Sorry, I've just had a lot of things come up."

"I bet, surviving in the woods all this time by yourself, you're a lot tougher than I thought." She punched my arm playfully.

"Well, I wasn't surviving... just living" I shrugged and rubbed where she punched me. I was blushing a little I could feel it.

"Did you find an old shack or something? Where have you been getting food?" She chuckled.

"No, I found my parents, I've been living with them," I stated plainly. Her face went very blank, she looked taken aback. I was expecting a bit more excitement for me.

"Your parents? Snowhead... sorry, I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly." She tried to smile and reassure me, but it looked a little forced.

"Yeah, my parents... what about them?" I was confused by her reaction.

"Snowhead, your parents aren't really great people." She wasn't smiling anymore.

"I wouldn't say that much but I mean I'm running away for the time being-"

"Did they hurt you? Did you realize they are crazy?" She began inspecting me with her eyes. I shook my head.

"No, they just really pissed me off." I was more confused than ever. "Why do you know so much about my parents?"

"That's not the point. The point is that you got the closure you needed and you're coming back to Skyloft." She grabbed my hand tightly and started to take me towards her bird. I gently pulled myself from her grasp.

"Mable, I'm not going back to Skyloft." I corrected her. The tone of our conversation was taking an uncomfortable turn.

"That's crazy talk, what else would you do? Stay down here and live like a heathen? Or do you still live with your parents?" Her face kept going from stern to fake kindness. I hadn't ever seen this part of her.

"I don't live with them anymore, but I would never go back to Skyloft. Everyone hates me there, and I'll be honest, I hate everyone there too... besides you and Zelda maybe."

"No one hates you, we were all just concerned. We didn't want you to end up like your parents, especially with the amount of power you possess and Link not having the master sword to protect us." She reassured me.

"Who's we? Yourself included?" I asked getting a bit frustrated with how she was talking to me.

"I mean, yeah, me and everyone in Skyloft."

"I don't see why it would include you, especially when you told me that you'd help me find them one day. You listened to all my fantasies of getting to grow up on the surface with my real mom and dad. Are you saying you knew who they were this whole time?" I quizzed, I was getting visibly distressed as this conversation progressed.

"Snowhead, everyone knew. My parents told me when I was old enough to understand and we were all told to never tell you. It was best for you to not know."

"Well, I know now and I'm doing just fine." I snapped at her. "It's frustrating to find out you lied to me just like everyone else my whole life."

"Frustrating for you? How do you think I feel?" She laughed sarcastically. My heart was beginning to hurt. "I was hoping that the moment you met your parents that the good in you would get away from them as quickly as possible. Instead, you lived with them for three months. If you had come back to Skyloft immediately we would have realized you ae sane and like the rest of us."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that my life of being bullied and put down was so supposed to train me for some unknown task. I also don't see how this is hurting you as much as it is hurting me."

"Snowhead-"

"My name is Akomin!" I interrupted her. "Why do you keep saying parents like you know who my mom is too. I can get why everyone knows my dad, but what about my mom?" I had tears beginning to weld up in my eyes.

"I mean, you think that crazy bitch didn't make it into any tellings of your story or the story of Link and Zelda?" She now let out a genuine laugh which felt like daggers digging into me.

"Don't say that." I looked back at Ghirahim and Catto still watching me from the distance. "She's a good person."

"A good person? Sure, as good as you can get when you marry a demon lord."

"Shut up, you don't know her!"

"Neither do you, 'Akomin'. Do you really think mommy-daddy-daughter time seventeen years late tells you what kind of person they are? She left you on Link's doorstep less than a day old. Of course, she wants you now, she's had seventeen years to feel guilty about it and make up a story to trap you."

"Mable, I really don't know what you're on right now but you better back off, " I warned. At this point, heavy streams of tears rolled down my cheeks. It was harder to keep my composure. "She is a good person. Neither of them has harmed or done anything to anyone in seventeen years."

"I'm disappointed in you, Snowhead." She sighed condescendingly. "I thought you were much better than this. I wanted to bring you back so bad. I wanted to tell you how much I cared about you and how I would make this right. I blamed myself for letting you go. It frustrated me how everyone seemed glad that you were dead besides me. Heck, even Zelda was glad you were gone." That was the last straw for me. I began balling and I held my arms close trying to figure out what I even wanted to do anymore. I was snapping. Mable got surprised by my breakdown and began to feel bad. She started to walk towards me to hug me.

"I wouldn't come near me right now," I said through my sobs. She got closer anyway. She inched forward and took me into another hug and I cried into her shirt.

"I will always be here for you." She whispered. She tightened her hug a bit. "Come on, let's take you back up there."

At first, I was comforted by her words. She held me tight and started to urge me to walk with her towards her bird near the large root, but I quickly realized what she was doing. As much as I wanted to stay with her, I knew I would never return to Skyloft. I began to pull myself away but she gripped tighter to keep me from pulling away.

"Get off me, Mable," I stated as I began to catch my breath. She only gripped tighter. "Get off, now!" She still just began to take me towards her bird. "I said, let go!" I yelled. I used my magic and shoved her off of me as hard as I could. She went flying towards the root where her bird was tied up. I saw her back smack pretty hard against the tree. I got my composure and was going to help but I didn't know what I saw. Just like the branch she had tied her Loftwing to, there were several more scattered throughout the root. I hadn't paid attention to the amount of force I shoved her away from me with. There was a branch that had gone straight through her neck. Blood was pouring all over her while she gasped for breath. I didn't know what to do or what I could do. I was frozen in fear. Her Loftwing was screeching and moaning in pain, their connection was being severed. I watched as she tried to pull herself off the tree with the last bit of energy she could muster, but she ended up falling flat on her face, bleeding out and unable to get any air through her lungs.

"Mable," I almost threw up saying her name. I was choked up and was still sobbing. I would honestly say I was in hysterics. "Mable, I'm sorry. I don't know-" she took her last scratchy breath and her body relaxed. At this point it sunk in, I let out a horrifying scream of absolute terror. What had I done? She was my best and only friend and I just killed her! In front of my family, in front of her Loftwing. I fell backward onto my butt as I tried to get some distance from her corpse. My eyes were glued to her however, they were able to let go for a second as I looked back and saw Catto crouched on the ground and Ghirahim comforting her. I quickly looked back at Mable. My whole body was trembling. I slowly got up and walked towards her. Her face was buried in the grass and mud. I reached my foot up and tapped her. As soon as I made contact I had to retract and get away to vomit. Afterwards, I got up and slowly made my way back to her body. I closed my eyes and picked up her body which just smelled heavily of blood. I opened my eyes and tried not to focus on her. I walked towards her Loftwing and let it look at her body. I could tell it was still in pain and it knew I was to blame.

I braced myself say, "I am sorry, but you need to take her back home." Her bird bowed its head and sat down so I could set her body across the saddle. I untied the bird from the tree and used the rope to tie her body down for support. When I was done I went to pet its head to let him know I was done, but he squawked angrily at me and turned away. He got up and began to take off into the sky with her until she was out of sight.

Once she was gone I immediately took off running as fast as I could. I ran with no purpose, I just wanted to get as far away as I could from there. I cried and ran. I didn't pay any attention to the creatures around me, I didn't notice where I was going. All I know is that when I looked up, I was trapped in thick woods with no path in sight. It was so thick that I couldn't even see the great tree, and the only life which was noticeable was that of whoever's eyes I felt watching me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghirahim talks with Akomin about her place in the house and shows little concern about Catto's safety. Akomin become enraged and runs out of the house and past the protective barrier. Mable was searching the area nearby and notices Akomin. She is excited that Akomin isn't dead and insisted on the two of them to return to the sky. Akomin refuses and it becomes apparent that Mable didn't want to hear that answer. It turned out that Mable was just like the other humans and held Akomin's parents as prejudices against her. Akomin becomes upset and heartbroken by the fact her best friend was just like the rest of the humans in Skyloft. Her powers become unstable and she accidentally lashes out which ends up killing Mable on accident. It turned out Ghirahim and Catto saw the whole incident, so out of fear and shock she runs into the deep forest where she gets lost and notices someone is watching her.


	14. Chapter 14

I felt itchy. I felt like bugs were all over me but anytime I flinched to swat them away, none were actually there. I scratched my arms raw just trying to make myself feel comfortable. I was alone and entirely lost in these thick woods, as I should be. I killed my best friend in front of my only family. I was a monster. How could I ever be trusted if it weren't in a deep dungeon alone somewhere?

These woods felt alive but barren. For as much as I felt the imaginary bugs, I also didn't notice any crickets or birds chirping. I was just alone. Maybe this is my dungeon. Maybe Hylia made this just for me.

"Well, Hylia, you finally did it! You got me somewhere far away from all the important people!" I shouted at the sky. My voice was shaky from crying. I eventually sat down and leaned against a small tree. I leaned my head up and began to sob.

"Is this what you wanted?!" I screamed, "if all I was supposed to do is hurt and destroy then why bother keeping me alive this long?"

"I wouldn't waste your time talking with her. She never listens." An eerie and maleficent voice spoke around me. It sounded familiar. I drew back my bow. It was a woman's voice, I could tell. It sounded old, patient, and lonely.

"Who are you?" I stood up slowly with my bow ready and looked around for a target.

"Please put your weapon down, Akomin." She said sternly, but she sounded a bit... humored.

"I really won't until you reveal yourself and tell me what you want."

"All I want-" she began and a twig shaped behind my tree. I turned my head to look and saw no one. But when I turned back a woman in dark clothing was gripping the end of my arrow from my bow. "-is to talk"

"About what?" I didn't put my arrow away. I kept it ready and she kept her hand there. She wasn't old, she was worn. Her skin had premature wrinkles, scars, and grey hairs forming on it. Her skin was a palish color I'd never seen. It looked as if someone left her out in the sun and drained all the blood from her body to remove the hue of red. Her mouth was wide but it looked like someone had stretched the skin to be that way. Her eyes were dark black pits. When she looked at me she gave a large toothy grin, a lot of her teeth were broken and stained. They looked sharp and ugly. Her clothes looked like layered dark cloaks that have been torn and abused over the years. While she looked bulky from the layers, her hands looked like a skeleton's. Every ligament, tendon, and bone was visible. The only part of her appearance that redeemed any essence of beauty was a necklace dangling from her neck. It was polished and glimmering in the light. It had two crystal-like triforces meeting together at one narrow tip, creating an hour-glass shape. Needless to say from this discription, I was frightened by her, but I didn't want to show it.

"...about you."

"Okay, there's a lot about me..." I stated.

"Why are you so sad?" She pretended to be concerned, but I could tell she was amused.

"Listen, lady. I don't want to talk with you. I have no idea who you are and you are honestly very uncomfortable to be around." I scolded. Her face flushed with a look of pure rage and then fell back to her excitement.

"Will it make you feel better to know my name?"

"Yes, and while you're at it can you tell me how you know mine?" I responded. I wasn't budging with my arrow firm in my bow.

"You're much more important than you've been told. Many of us have been waiting for you." She hissed the words at me in frustration. She was thinking about something else while she talked. When she realized I knew she had quickly gotten off-topic she glared at me and growled and then pridefully spoke. "My name is Gerudin. I am an ancient being and I have lived peacefully in the lost woods for decades. I have written many philosophies on society and how it targets those of us who don't deserve it." She let go of my arrow. "People see us as threats and believe us guilty until proven innocent" she looked away dramatically. Her own words resonated deeply with her.

"People don't like different," I said looking at the ground. She giggled a little to herself as she also looked down.

"But I know how to fix it! I came up with a society primarily of women. I know it's crazy but I found a way to use magic to limit the number of males that are born in this society. After a few generations, it could become a sustainable race of people." She looked thrilled to be talking about this. "The only downside is that the spell has a crack every 100 years. One naturally born male will be able to penetrate their way into the utopia, but it shouldn't ever be an issue if he is raised correctly. It's still just a concept, I hope someday people will enjoy it for themselves if I can't see it myself."

"I'm sorry, that sounds great and maybe one day you can. I'm just confused about what this has to do with me. Who else is waiting for me?" I interjected.

"You're right, I got off-topic." She looked around spastically as if trying to make sure no one was watching us. "Hylia has also been waiting for you since the destruction of Demise. She wants to use you as a weapon."

"A weapon for what?" I asked. I was uncomfortable thinking of Hylia in this way.

"Far off in Lanayru desert, there is a secret entrance to a city of demon folk. Innocent beings- related to your father- have been banished to live underground and hidden from the rest of the world for the sake of humans. She understands you are not close with the demons or your father, but you still maintain the blood connection and power to wipe the rest of the demon folk out with her help."

"I- I don't think Hylia would do that. " I rejected. Gerudin grinned as if she knew I would say that.

"The creatures and people of Demise are still the reason the humans have yet to colonize the surface. You have seen how her people treat the demons. They thought you were garbage. She just wanted you to be groomed to think like your human half."

"I guess that makes some sense," I mumbled to myself. It was hard to think that someone as wise and merciful as Hylia would just go and wipe out a whole race of people, but what I am being told makes sense according to my life experiences. 

"So why have you been waiting for me?" I asked.

"Coincidentally for the opposite reason." She laughed with her screechy laugher. It felt burned into my ears. "I would like for you to reawaken Demise-"

"Ok lady, let me just stop you right there." I held up my hand to interrupt her. "You had me for the first part but there's no way you could persuade me to do that. I know what that dude is capable of, what he has done. There are tales and transcripts to prove it. You can drop that idea right there. Please don't try to tell me that the dude's name who is literally 'Demise' is actually a super good dude who loves peace and happiness."

"I won't forgive his recklessness from the past. He has gone down a dreadful path, but his destination is still that of good intention." She explained.

"Yeah, right." I sarcastically responded.

"Do you honestly believe the flawless story that the humans told you? After all, they've lied to you time and time again to protect their legacy." She made a good point. They lied about me, my parents, Groose, everything. "Are you willing to risk the lives of thousands based on an already corrupt story?"

No, I wasn't. I wasn't going to have anyone else die because of me...

"So what do I do?" I asked determined. She grinned a wide smile and walked close to me. She took one of her sharp nails and cut her lip slightly so it bled. She rubbed the blood over her lips like a gloss. She then leaned over and kissed my forehead. For whatever reason, it burned slightly. I got grossed out and immediately wiped her kiss mark off my face.

"Go to the top of the Goddess statue in the sealed grounds and I'll take care of the rest." She giggled. The very little light that covered this dense forest began to fade until it was pitch black.

I began to panic, but there was a glimmer in the distance coming towards me. It began to increase speed. I almost wanted to run but the darkness was much scarier. The light engulfed me and when it passed me I noticed I was outside the dense forest and in front of the Great Tree.

I began to walk towards the sealed grounds.


	15. Chapter 15

There I was, standing in front of the Sealed Grounds. The door glared down at me. I felt uneasy. Something in me trembled at the idea of what I was doing. It didn't feel right, but there were too many lives at stake to not believe her.

I pushed the door open. I saw the familiar room from before. As I walked in I felt like I was burning and feverish. It must have just been anxiety.

"Heyyy! It's you!" A humorous voice bellowed from the other side of the room. "Sweet-pea you came back! I'm Surprised you'z weren't squashed like a bug in the desert! Hope you ain't back for another ride." Groose laughed and walked up to me.

"No," I answered firmly. "I need to visit the Goddess Statue. A lot has happened, I need to pray for a while" I spoke through my teeth. I knew I was a bad liar, but I felt like I was about to collapse that did not help me hide anything.

Groose's face fell and looked firm. He didn't look amused anymore. "Yeah, sweet-pea. You don't look so great." He put a hand on my head. "Ya seem like ya just killed someone." My eyes widened in shock and began to water a bit.

"Oh hon, the statue is out the door, towards the back." He spoke with some disingenuous sympathy.

"I need to be as close as I can. Is there a way I can get to the top platform?" I asked nervously.

"Sweet-pea." His face expressed pure distrust. "I knew you felt off. The top platform isn't used for prayers, only rituals..." he was catching on, "or sacrifices." He finished. I got tense. "I don't think you're here to pray, are you sweet-pea?" He stood there firm, I was only an enemy to him now. He suddenly sprang at me to grab my arms and hold me down. I was squirming and screaming. I knew I wasn't going to win this battle from strength alone. I concentrated hard and mustered some power to shove him off me.

I began to rush toward the door, but I could feel my fever starting to get to me. I wasn't running as fast as I could and I could feel Groose catching up behind me. I pulled the heavy door open as much as I could and slipped through. I was met with the goddess's giant statue touching the sky.

"I can't get up there." I panted to myself. I heard the door creak open behind me. Groose was rushing back out and he had a large wooden club in one hand. I turned around used some more power to hold him back. It was taking a lot of energy and I had nowhere to go. My panicking made me weaker. I could tell all I was doing was slowing him down slightly. I stared back up at the platform I needed to be on. There was only one way up there. I release my grip on Groose. He was about to rush up and hit me with the club, I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath, and snapped my fingers. I expected my face to meet the club any second, but nothing was happening. I peaked my eyes open and Groose was hundreds of feet below me. I took a step backward and stumbled. I turned around to be greeted up close with the Goddess's face. I had actually managed to teleport myself. I collapsed on my back and stared at the clouds to catch my breath. The cool air felt nice for a moment, but I had to quickly roll over to the side of the platform to puke. I was weakening by the second. This wasn't just some stomach butterflies from anxiety, something was actually wrong with me. I stood up on my wobbly legs and I saw a small niche in the statue.

I got a strong urge to go towards it and I placed my hand inside. Once I did I regretted it. An invisible force began to pin me there and crush every bone in my right hand. It felt like it was being crushed under tons of pressure. My hand began to mutate and turn a deep purple as the blood bubbled under my skin. Slices began to cut through my flesh and shred what little recognizable features I had left in it. The blood poured down the small alter and down to where I was crouching in pain in the platform. It pulled everywhere. I felt my pulse through every part of my body, throbbing, clenching, screaming. Anytime I tried to pull away the force held me there tighter. My hand spirted blood like a small geyser; the river thickened and flowed off the platform. The earth began to quake underneath me, but my hand was still stuck. The clouds began to thicken and block any sunlight from shining down.

My hand fell from the platform and I looked at it. I felt like it wasn't even a hand anymore. I couldn't move it. I just cradled it close to me and heaved in pain. The earth continued the shake and it was getting dimmer by the second.

"Akomin!" A voice screamed from below. I couldn't tell if I was going into shock or not. Actually, I was definitely already in shock. I looked down and saw Ghirahim and Catto standing with Groose behind them. However, Groose quickly ran inside after seeing what was happening.

"What have you done?!" Ghirahim screamed. He seemed scared. Tears welled up in my eyes and sobbed and screamed.

"I'm so sorry!" I cried loudly. "Mom, please, my hand hurts!" I felt crazy. Where they even there? Was I just imagining them?

"Akomin, you need to come down, now!" Catto yelled.

"I can't!" I cried.

"Yes, you can!" Ghirahim roared. "We can't come to get you! You need to come down!"

"I can't! I can't! I can't" I began to yell.

"Please, Akomin, I can help you! I'll make you feel all better, just come down!" Catto was sobbing as she yelled. I looked at my hand and back down at her. I stood up slowly, but once I was finished another invisible force held onto my throat. It began to lift me up and I gasped for air. My arms stretched out to my sides and I looked at my destroyed hand again.

"You damn idiot! It's too late now!" Ghirahim yelled.

I continued to gasp and I felt my body begin to boil with heat. I gasped, trying to let any air in. My legs were turning a dark color and the dark color began to creep up my body. It felt like a million bugs crawling over me. It passed over my stomach, my chest, and then I felt to go over my neck and up my face. As soon as it passed the grip on my neck was let go and I fell about ten feet back into the platform of the Goddess Statue. The sound I made wasn't that of flesh hitting the ground... it was metal. I scrambled back up and looked at myself. I was heavy metal and it felt so strange, but my hand was back to normal. I was also no longer in shock, however I still felt very ill. I wiggled my fingers and stared at the glimmer of my skin until I saw something move in the reflection. I jumped and turned to look behind me, it was a monstrous-looking man. He seemed scaly and ravenous. I knew immediately who he was.

"You have done well. I was not expecting my being to awakened until several generations from now." He chuckled to himself. "You've also brought me some visitors."

"Are you-" I began to ask but I was answered quickly.

"Yes." He turned around and stared up at the statue's face. "Where's your hero now? I certainly have mine." He turned back to me and studied at me for a few moments.

"Ghirahim." He called down towards him. "You've disappointed me." Ghirahim didn't respond. "Ghirahim." He called again, he seemed amused by everything currently happening. "Won't you introduce me to your family?"

"Master, I-" Ghirahim started to speak, but Demise reached his hand out and Ghirahim was pulled straight from the ground, up into his grasp. Demise's hand was huge. He was able to hold Ghirahim firmly with one hand around his waist.

"You're still in love...?" he sneered. He looked down at Catto and the back at Ghirahim. "Pathetic. And not only that, but you managed to create her." He looked toward me again. "So tell me why you knew she was the key to releasing me, but yet she is here on her own accord?" Ghirahim's face was terrified. He was truly scared out of his mind.

"Master, I swear, I was going to-"

"Are you not loyal?" Demise growled. He began to squeeze Ghirahim tighter.

"No, Master, I promise-" he gasped. Then, I was stunned to see Ghirahim look towards me. He didn't say anything, but his face screamed at me for help. He looked like he was begging me to do something. 

"I must give you some credit for making such a fine specimen... twice." He laughed again and looked down at Catto and grinned wide. I needed to intervene, this was already not going as I planned. I needed him to realize why he was released and what Hylia was planning to do to his people. 

"Are you going to free the demons?" I spoke up. Demise turned his head and gave me a confused look. Ghirahim also looked at me with pure horror of the words I had said. "You're going to free them right? You'll protect them so Hylia won't destroy them?" I wanted to try and distract him from his rage with Ghirahim. I was not expecting him to burst out laughing hysterically.

"Ghirahim, you didn't tell me she was delusional!" And at that moment I realize I had fucked up. I had been tricked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once again for making it this far into the story. If you've put up with my ass this long it truly means a lot and I appreciate the support. Please continue to support by giving a kudos, or a comment. It's free and easy and every one of them counts and helps support me. I truly get excited and grateful for every single one that comes in. Thank you so much. - Iris


	16. Chapter 16

I was deceived. Because of that, I just released the most dangerous person in the world. Demise took a lot of amusement in me. He had bound Ghirahim's hands and feet together and let him float in the air while he came over to examine me.

"You're an Akomus. What is your name?"

"Akomin," I answered.

"Very creative," He said sarcastically. "You are like me, except..." he didn't finish that sentence. He took some steps toward me and crouched down to look me in the face. I tried to say nothing and react as little as possible. "You long to be needed. Hmmph." He murmured to himself. "You carry a lot of your father in you. It's uncanny."

He reached his hand out and summoned Ghirahim towards him. Grabbing him again, he took one of his massive thumbs and pressed it against Ghirahim's chest to squeeze. Ghirahim began to squirm and yell for help. Within a few seconds, Ghirahim's humanoid form shattered and he was back in his demon body.

"Master," Ghirahim panted, "You know I am loyal, please, I will continue to serve you." Demise sat him down next to me with his arms and legs bonded.

"You served me until our bond was severed and then you prioritized that woman from another world because you felt like she'd be the only one who'd accept you." Demise used his other hand and Catto appeared in his grasp. Ghirahim tried to inch his way towards Demise to stop him but he couldn't make it far without risking a fall off the platform.

"Please, just let her go. I am here now, I can serve you. I know where the Goddess is now and her hero. I can bring them to you, I can!" He was desperate. My eyes were locked with Catto's. She had tears pouring down her face but she didn't show an ounce of fear.

"I told you specifically to never be involved with humans of any kind. When I arose I could tell you failed, but I was naive to let you keep this one prize for yourself; she has proven to be a distraction." He reached his arm over the side of the platform and dangled Catto over it. My body tensed in fear.

"Please!" Ghirahim begged. "I will give you anything!"

"You have nothing I want." Demise snickered. He was enjoying the torment he was causing.

"Please, don't hurt her," I spoke up. Demise's face shot over to look at me with disappointment.

"Daughter," I was taken aback by him calling me this. "I am indebted to you, but I understand you've been weakened by these emotions. I will show you the power you possess by freeing you from the bonds of these sad souls."

"That's not what I want. I will serve you if just spare them." I got on my knees and bowed my head.

"Akomin, you bitch!" Catto spat at me.

"Now, a bond with you would be interesting." He smiled down at me. "But you are not at your full potential." I gazed up at him with confusion. "You only have one kill and it's tearing you apart this very second." I was getting frustrated. Catto was still hanging towards her death and he was messing with me too.

"It was a friend that I killed, it does destroy me inside. However, I can kill anyone else you need me too."

"Being friends with a human is the same as being friends with the scum on my foot." He chuckled. "Do not let its death weigh on you." I clenched my fist.

"Please put her down," I demanded. His face brightened with amusement.

"You don't know what you're saying and I'm trying-"

"I do know what I'm saying. Please put my mom down." I needed to calm myself down. He was going to keep talking his way around until I did what he wanted.

"Your mother isn't more than a little whore." Demise laughed. "She played with the heart of my servant and manipulated it to have her way with him-"

"She's not a whore." I interrupted, anger was starting to engulf me.

"Alright, then she's a wretched human rat who snuck-"

"She's not a rat either. Now put her down." I snapped and stood up on my feet. He wasn't amused anymore.

"You think you're so brave? That's just the human blood flowing through you. You're no more than a shrimp." He growled.

"I'm more of a person than you are. I'm proud to be an Akomus if it means I am related to her. You seem to totally neglect your human blood." I explained. He smiled slightly.

"I don't have any human blood, you moron. After I devoured my mother during her pregnancy, my human portion was completely amputated. She was the only connection I had with humans, the determination of her soul was all I needed to become more powerful than I was already destined to be. Her death only made me more powerful." I stood firm and didn't respond. "I would expect the same would go for you." He looked over to Catto.

"I'm going to tell you one last time to put her down," I demanded. My voice was shaking, I was terrified. The only thing driving me was the pure rage running through my veins. He will not hurt Catto. There's a reason I didn't kill her during her pregnancy and there's a reason she's the only person in my life who truly loves me and I hope still does. I wasn't like him. 

"As you wish." He narrows his eyes at me and stared me down and he released his grip and dropped her towards the ground. My heart stopped and my eyes widened, even though I didn't want to see. I immediately let my rage take over. The pain that strung my chest was unbearable. I didn't want to feel what I was about to feel. I didn't want to think about cleaning up her dead body on the ground after all this. My head throbbed with the heartbreak that fell over me. It made me snap. I was going to kill this son of a bitch. 

I used all the power I had left on him. Demise was thrown to the outskirts of the Sealed Grounds and I quickly sped after him. I was flying and jumping off my surroundings to catch up. I felt lighter than air. I was faster and stronger than I have ever felt. He tried fighting me back and he landed some strikes but I wouldn't give up. For a surprising reason, I was standing a chance.

He tried to throw a punch but I grabbed it with my hand, resisting it. My rage was blinding me of any thoughts about dead Catto. I used every once of pain in my heart to push back against his fists, his punches, and his magical attacks. I could tell he was surprised. He tried to throw another punch, I dodged it with ease. He stumbled forward and I jumped onto his back. I don't know what I was planning to do after that, but he ended up throwing me off pretty quickly. I reached my arms out and used my powers to pin his arms to his side. He was shaking and squirming as I was holding him. I was reaching my limits. I could feel that I was losing energy by the second. It was draining me. My vision started fading in and out.

"You don't have a plan now, and you're using all your powers to hold me like this for nothing." He stated. He was right. I didn't know how to put him back into his seal, although for now, I was buying time to think.

"Akomin!" I heard Ghirahim yell from the top of the statue. "Put him back into the goddess!" He shouted.

"You bastard Ghirahim! Your soul is bound to me!" Demise shouted angrily. "Ghirahim, your soul is going to stay in the reincarnation cycle for all eternity! Same with the hero, same with the goddess! You will be bound to serve me in every life and your soul will never get peace!" Ghirahim seemed unbothered by this curse. My vision and energy were getting noticeably weaker. I did what I could and flew the two of us toward the statue and began to press Demise back into the niche I committed the ritual at. I didn't have any knowledge of magic like this from training with Ghirahim, but I was going to do anything and everything to get this cretin back where he belonged. I pushed with all my might, with every bit of my power Demise was surely squishing to fit into the small niche in the statue. With one more wave of energy, I shoved him into the tiny sector and his body vanished. Once he was gone, I felt relieved but stupid. I was the reason he got out in the first place. I was the reason Catto was dead. In a fit of rage, I punched the altar with my hand. The stone cracked. My power was still weakening and I was still so angry. I threw another punch at the stone and a crack began to form. Right before I landed another I felt a hand pull me back.

I fell backward and into a pair of arms. I turned my head slightly and saw Ghirahim. My body was giving out from under me and everything began to feel slow and sluggish. He picked me up and hung me over his shoulder. Shortly after that, I closed my eyes and passed out.


	17. Chapter 17

I woke up with my head aching and the moonlight was brightly shining in from the windows. I was back in my bed which I didn't think I'd miss much after only a day or so gone. I tried to adjust to what was around me.

"It's a strange hour for you to awaken," Ghirahim spoke quietly next to me.

"Is Catto-" I began but I was interrupted.

"She is perfectly healthy. She's been constantly anxious for you." He grumbled. He leaned back into the chair he was sitting in next to my bed.

"She's alive? I thought she-"

"I was able to keep her from falling and placed her somewhere safe while you were off exploding with emotion." He droned. "You've caused a great deal of damage to our safety. You almost let my master escape after the sacred blade has been sealed into slumber. You would have caused the end of the world."

"He's your master."

"And Link is your father." He grumbled. I understood his point. "I was bound by him to serve him throughout our coexistence. When the hero destroyed him, it destroyed our bond and I finally understood what it meant to live without a predestined purpose. I can no longer become his weapon. And if I'm being quite honest, while I don't regret my history of serving him, I would not willingly restore our bond. The only bond I am comfortable maintaining is that with Catto."

"How did you know where I was and what I was doing?" I asked.

"I know my master's presence almost as well as I know Catto's. As soon as I felt it, I knew where he'd be and the only person capable of releasing him would be you."

"I guess that makes sense." I looked down at my metallic hands and examined them.

"Why you would do such a thing is beyond me. Perhaps you read a dim-witted book or something." He yawned. I didn't want to tell him I trusted a crazy lady in the woods with no further information. He would never trust me again. I decided to change the subject.

"You seem rather calm, I wasn't expecting you to be the one looking after me when I woke up." I pointed out.

"It would be foolish of me to not take some responsibility for all this." He stretched his arms and legs out wide, as though he got bored by my conversation. "As you said, I do tend to put misfortunes onto others. Plus, Catto made it fairly clear that I've been a terrible father."

"Yeah, you have. Why do you care now?"

"Because you almost destroyed all of human existence because of it." He recounted. For some reason, his way of taking responsibility for what I did just made me feel more guilty. "Not that I particularly care about human existence, but according to my master, Catto would fall into that category; so she would be in danger at that point. And if that is the risk then I acknowledge my responsibility as a parent. If I am honest, I never wanted to be a father, let alone to a rambunctious brat like you. Though, Catto has helped me see where the _me_ in _you_ is. She wants me to help tame it." I rolled my eyes. And flopped down in my bed in annoyance. His dry, annoying prattle was the reason I ran away the first time. He had to have been messing with me. This was his idea of a father-daughter talk. "As for why I was waiting here for you to awake and not Catto. Well, that would be pure coincidence. I had finally gotten Catto to sleep prior to you waking up. I just so happened to be getting comfortable when you did."

"I'm surprised she went to sleep at all." I shrugged.

"Well... I have my ways of exhausting her." He smirked to himself. I couldn't believe him. I don't think I have had many one-on-one conversations with him in private since we met. Now I remembered why.

"You're disgusting." I barked. He just laughed and didn't respond. I sat up and hugged my knees. I was taller than normal in this form which was unfortunate. I was tall enough as it was. I didn't know what to make of all this. It was frustrating, but I supposed this was all my fault.

"What happens from here?" I asked quietly. He stopped his laughter and looked at me.

"If I'm honest, I felt most connected with you during our training. And considering you still have little control over your powers, you could use the practice." He was right. Plus, I did enjoy our time together most while training.

"We can continue for a while. If that is what I truly need?" I shrugged. He looked at me bored.

"Yes, you truly need it." He proclaimed. "but I will admit that I was keeping you behind on purpose. You deserve to go at a more adequate pace. What you demonstrated three months ago was certainly beyond what I was expecting."

"W-wait? You said three months?" I struggled to try and get the words out of my mouth.

"Yes, you've been asleep for quite a while." He didn't understand why I was so shocked.

"How did I eat? How did I drink? How was I out so long?" I began to panic. It's not like I had anything important to do, but sleeping through three months and not realizing it? That's three months of my life out the window.

"Since you're in your demon form you don't need to eat or drink. Those are simple pleasures to part take in. It's a function your body can provide but they aren't necessities. Similar to humans and sex." He explained. I rubbed my face in frustration. This guy... could not be related to me.

"No, that's not- that just isn't the same." I corrected. "How have I been asleep for a whole three months?" I groaned confused.

"Well, if it were only a matter of days, Catto would have been most definitely the person you woke up to. But after a while, she eventually needed to take care of herself so I convinced her to leave your side little by little."

"That didn't answer my question." I rebuffed.

"It baffled me too. A few times we thought you were waking, but you truly were completely unconscious for three months." He confessed.

"Oh my gods," I sat up quickly and got out of bed. My legs wobbled while I tried to walk towards the door.

"I don't know if you understand math, but that means you also haven't walked in three months." Ghirahim cooed as I walked past him. I ignored him. I stumbled out of the room and down the hall. I opened the bathroom door. I lit the lights inside and stared into the mirror while I leaned on the sink for support. My eyes were larger and consisted of just white-glowing orbs. My facial structure looked very simplistic. My teeth now had fangs and my ears were pointed and large. My hair did not have any particular strands. It was a flat, straight shape that fell down my back. My whole body was a dark, metallic color that glimmered in the dim light of the bathroom. In comparison to who I was before, I was honestly the complete opposite. In comparison to Ghirahim, I was most definitely his daughter, the only difference was that I didn't have a diamond crystal on my chest or forehead. 

I took a step back from the mirror and walked out of the bathroom. I walked towards the master bedroom door. Ghirahim hissed at me from down the hall.

"Don't you dare wake her."

I ignored him again and slowly pushed the door open. It was heavier than I remembered. I crept onto the bedroom. Catto was snoring quietly from her side of the bed. I climbed slowly into the bed and laid next to her, our faces were close and her breath tickled my face. I was so grateful for her being alive right now. I couldn't properly think of a world without her being in.

Ghirahim walked in aggravated. "You are not sleeping here, get back to your room." He whispered. I decided I wasn't going to listen to him or talk to him for the rest of the night. I laid still and enjoyed the warmth of Catto next to me. Thank goodness she was still warm.

"Thank you," I whispered so quietly, I wasn't even sure if it was more than a slight breath escaping me. "I love you, mom."

Ghirahim sat on his side of the bed and sighed in annoyance. He laid down on his portion of the bed and turned away from me to go to sleep. The bed was large enough for the three of us to sleep comfortably. I closed my eyes, despite being asleep for three months, and relaxed. I gently brought my hand to meet hers and placed it in her palm, her hand slowly and sleepily gripped mine and gave a slight squeeze.

"I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the story this far. Please show your support where you can. I appreciate knowing people enjoy my story. I am considering the possibility of writing Ghirahim and Catto's story next. If that is something you're interested in, please leave a comment. Also let me know if you prefer me posting on here, or if Wattpad is another platform that you would consider using to read my stories. Thank you for all the support and reading this far! I'll be getting the next chapter out soon.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is going according to plan?

I was laughing so hard and stupidly tried to take a drink while calming myself down. I thought I had some composure, but I looked up and made direct eye contact with Catto and then ended up choking and having it come out my nose. In response, Ghirahim busted out and tried to get control of himself while he roared with laughter. We were all laughing loudly and it echoed throughout the kitchen where we sat and ate. I forget what exactly set us all off, but had been constantly making sarcastic remarks and witty jokes the whole mean. We were trapped in a situation that was funny just because of the tension and dynamic.

“I can’t remember the last time I laughed like this,” Catto said through some deep breaths.

“I mean you can barely remember what you ate for breakfast so it’s not surprising.” Ghirahim chuckled while reaching for his cup. He watched as Catto immediately stop laughing and her face fell, unamused. Her over sensitive reaction made him quickly spit his drink back into his cup so he wouldn’t choke. And I also joined him with cracking up again.

“Care to explain. Because I don’t get it.” She said seriously.

“I kid.” Ghirahim retracted. “Catto, you have some of the best memory out of the three of us. Trust me... you never forget anything.” He emphasized his tone to indicate the hidden message. She still was very insulted.

“I would like to think that I’m not like the two of you.” She defended herself. “I try to move forward as much as possible.” She crossed her arms and avoided eye contact.

“Catto, no one was intending for you to take it this seriously,” I interjected. She rolled her eyes. Woah, seemed a bit aggressive from her. “It’s just a joke.”

“Yeah, a joke that wasn’t funny. I was still insulted, the least you could do is apologize.” She barked. Ghirahim and I looked at each other knowing damn well neither of us was going to do that. I quickly stood up ready to completely abandon the conversation and go to my room, but Ghirahim was also out of his chair. It was uncomfortable how similar our minds were at this very moment. We just stared at each other frozen without a word. Our little contest ended when we heard a loud snort then turned into a hysterical laughed.

Catto had her arms over her stomach and was trying to breathe through her giggling. She set up this uncomfortable situation.

“Twerp,” Ghirahim grumbled, but he was amused by how happy she looked. He walked to her side of the table and roughly rubbed her head with his hand. Her hair tangled all up in her curls which just made her laugh some more. She tried to push him away but he overpowered her. He quickly stopped and helped her stand to her feet. She was noticeably pregnant now. She well into her third trimester and her stomach consumed her. I didn’t think it could get much larger than it was. I couldn’t imagine what it might be when it’s time for the baby.

“Akomin, can you clean up dinner.” She asked politely. I nodded my head and began to collect the dishes to take to the sink. Ghirahim walked out with her, but before he closed the door he turned back to me.

“You’ve been doing well in training. Come to the bedroom when you’re done and we are going to try something.” He instructed with a small wink. I didn’t know what that meant. I was honestly very taken aback. However, I just nodded and began to wash some of the dishes.

We had started working hard on training again. This time Ghirahim was a bit more open to my learning needs and keeping my lessons very progressive. I was becoming his equal in many magical topics and I could tell he didn’t want to admit it. I also had a deeper unlocked power and understanding after my battle with Demise.

On top of that, Catto started cooking and gardening regularly again. She wanted dinners every night even though two of the three of us don’t need to eat. She also wanted more individual time with me. She started reading her old journal from when she first arrived and I learned details about where she came from and how she got here. She was also able to translate the pages I couldn’t understand originally when I tried to snoop through them.

I was happy where I was. I didn’t feel as out of place in my relationship with my father. While he is not my dad or my role model in any way, he has shaped up to be a decent friend who also happens to be my dad. Considering the three of us were within the same five years of maturity, I don’t think I could get much of a different relationship out of him.

I put the rest of the dishes away and walked down the sunset-lit hall towards the master bedroom. Ghirahim was messing with some sort of magic in his corner of the room and Catto sat at the end of the bed. She smiled up at me and I smiled back. She patted on the bed next to her and I walked forward to take a seat. I didn’t understand what was about to happen. Very rarely am I invited into the bedroom, especially by Ghirahim. I normally just come in on my own accord. Was there something I was missing?

“I am showing you how to use a host body and gain a secondary form,” Ghirahim spoke up right after I got comfortable. “You will need to stand up and come over.” I irritatedly did as I was told since I just sat down.

“I was born into the form I had before. Will I look the same or have it be as strong?” I questioned. He was busy messing through his desk for something. He then pulled out the vial of blood he used before.

“I am hoping that if we use Catto’s blood then, yes.” He answered as he dripped two drops into his dish. He continued with the process I watched him do several months ago when he transformed into his humanoid form. I inspected his movements and mumbles under his breath. I took in as much as I could before he relaxed and dipped his finger in the blood. He dapped it on his chest crystal and went to the closet immediately afterward. A few moments later he came out fully clothed and back to looking like normal, but his hair was long and messy yet again.

“After the enchantment, you must put it on the source of your soul.” He instructed. I nodded and then realized something very important.

“I don’t have a chest thingy,” I explained.

“You don’t need a physical opening to the soul as I do. I only have this because my master opened this window to my soul to make me more obedient towards him.” He lectured. “Most demons have their souls concentrated on the nape of their necks. However, I have a feeling yours is elsewhere.” He walked up to me and gently grabbed my hand with his. “You are right-handed, correct?” He asked.

“Um, no. left actually.” I corrected. He rolled his eyes and grabbed my other hand. He reached over to the basin and dabbed the last drop of blood onto the back of my hand. It slowly seeped into my skin. I felt my body lighten and begin to change. I felt myself shrink slightly and my skin faded back to a pasty pale. “Now, you must hurry before its complete because you will-“ I yelped and jumped away when I noticed that I most definitely looked human again. Nipples and breasts became more defined and soon enough I was completely naked. I covered myself and turned away to hide behind the bed on the floor. As I crouched there, hidden, the last thing to change was my hair. It grew significantly and fell down my shoulders. It was back to the wavy, messy, white it was before, so suppose it did work like planned. Ghirahim seemed frustrated and held his eyes shut. Catto giggled to herself while she got up to one of the dressers in the room. She pulled out a towel and handed it to me while looking away slightly.

“Ok, I’m covered. I headed back to my room the get changed.” I jabbered as I quickly headed towards the door.

“Not that I wouldn’t love for that to happen but there is another matter that needs to be discussed before the night is over.” Ghirahim insisted as he turned back to look at me, however, he avoided eye contact.

“Ok, can you make it quick-“

“We are moving.” He stated. I cocked my head confused.

“Moving?” I repeated.

“With the final weeks of the pregnancy arriving, it would be best if we returned to Lanayru where we can live with the rest of the demons. I contacted the council-“

“Will it be safe?” I asked. They both nodded. “Then I don’t have a problem with that. Why didn’t we do it sooner?”

“I’ve had a difficult relationship with the parliament that runs the government there. While I still have full authority and rule over the people, I admittedly neglected to maintain my duties and provide for them over the past seventeen years. Instead of balancing my duties as the servant of my master and the sovereignty he left for me, I did them a favor and let them advance without me.” He explained but Catto’s face looked towards him in annoyance.

“They didn’t like me.” She clarified.

“When will this all be happening?”

“The week of my due date.” She answered. “So in three weeks.”

“Fine by me.” I shrugged. That seemed to be all that they had for me. It was an interesting proposal, but at least I get to meet the other demons of the world. “I am going to go get dressed for bed and get some rest.”

“Goodnight, sweet dreams.” Catto hummed. I looked over towards Ghirahim and gave a bland smile.

“Have a good night.” He spurted out quickly. I was taken aback, he hadn’t genuinely wished me goodnight before.

“Goodnight,” I responded. I headed out of their room and towards mine. I wanted some clothes on after all that.

I opened my door and my curtains were blowing around rapidly. Someone left the doors open to the balcony again so I began to walk over. I quickly regretted it when I felt something slice through my foot. I hissed in pain and hopped towards my bed. I sad down and strained my eyes to look at what was in my foot. It was very dark and it took some maneuvering to see the shimmer of broken glass reflect in my foot. I pulled it out gently and placed the piece on my nightstand. I looked back towards the balcony and realized that the curtains weren’t blowing from the doors being open, but from all the windows being shattered. My bedroom was covered in glass, I was lucky to only have gotten away with one foot getting sliced. I raised my hand and used some power to put the windows back together and clean up all the glass. It was strange that all of them shattered. It seemed intentional. No one was supposed to see or access the house beside us, so the only logical explanation is that the wind must have blown a branch or something into them. Or maybe a bird or animal flew into them and escaped.

At least it was cleaned up. I looked down at my foot and dark red oozed from the cut. My bond with this body is just as strong as the last one. I won’t have to worry about it shattering easily. It is just a shame I have to clean up the blood and take care of my foot until it gets better now. It’s a minor set back, if we are moving I am sure it won’t even matter much. We will be safe, not like I am battling anyone anymore. I could tell that Ghirahim and Catto were starting to stress now that the last few weeks were arriving. It’s best I didn't bring this up until after the move and the baby, especially if it could just be nothing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. Even if you're not from America and it was just a normal July 4th for you, I hope it was still good. Please continue to read, kudos, and comment if you can. I really appreciate the support and it helps me know what ya'll like so I can continue to write. 
> 
> -Iris


	19. Chapter 19

The house felt eerie since the night my window shattered. I think we all noticed it too. No one would walk in the hall in the dark anymore, and I noticed Ghirahim checking the locks on all the doors to make sure they worked. None of us wanted to mention it to each other. I think we all assumed we were just paranoid.

I barely slept the last few nights, leaving me feeling like a slug. I stayed in bed until almost after noon. I just barely rolled myself out of bed and was still in my nightgown. I didn't bother changing anymore. I found Catto inspecting a puddle on the floor near the kitchen. Perhaps the sink leaked or something. I approached her quietly and studied her standing there.

"The ice room melted." She stated to me while looking at the puddle.

"Are you sure? Maybe someone just spilled something." I reassured. She just looked up towards the ice room door. My eyes followed the puddle back and it most certainly came from under the door.

"We always keep it sealed shut." She explained. "It has a weather-charm on it too, so even if the seal breaks, it won't melt."

That meant someone had to break the enchantment. But why? What is the point of sabotaging an ice room? I didn't even know how to use that magic yet, let alone know that it existed. But with the move approaching, we tried to keep these things to ourselves.

"It might just be a blip, I'm sure if we seal it up that it'll get back to normal." I insisted.

"Yeah." Catto agreed distractedly. She was very skeptical. She placed her hands on her stomach and turned to walk away silently while staring off into the distance. I decided to clean up the water. I went into the closet and pulled out a mop. I used it to soak up the water and then wrung out the mop outside. I repeated the process several times. I turned to go back inside the house, the front door slammed shut in front of me. I froze.

I walked up and grabbed the handle and jiggled it. It was locked. I don't think this door has aver locked for a good reason. I don't even think we had a proper key. I continued to shake it violently. Hopefully having Ghirahim or Catto hear from inside. I was hoping that it was just the wind and that it jammed the heavy door, but I knew was a very calm day.

My breathing quickened and my heart raced. I turned slowly to look around. Behind me was the normal yard. Everything just felt so off. I didn't believe in ghosts, but I began to doubt myself.

"It's no good." A voice hummed around me. I quickly recognized it. Her image was burned into my memory. I took some steps away from the door and off the porch. I couldn't see her anywhere.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked threateningly.

"Why are you doing this?" She mimicked in a mocking tone. "Wouldn't you like to know? Maybe I would have told you if you stuck with the plan. Now you and your mommy and daddy are running away. But it's no use. Time is ticking, I've been patient enough." Her voice was filled with drama. I was trying to pinpoint her location by her voice.

"I stuck to the little to no plan you gave me! You lied to me! You took advantage of me!" I barked. 

"Boohoo!" She responded sarcastically.

"What do you want?!" I yelled. "Gerudin! Answer me!"

"I should have known." Ghirahim groaned from the doorway. He sounded disappointed. "You led her to us." He rubbed his face in frustration. He snapped his fingers. I was in a small room I had never been in. It was chilly and stone. Nothing was inside, just a small bench and a wet floor. There was a single door. It was opened and Ghirahim and Catto stood together blocking the frame.

"You're going to stay here until the move." Catto sighed. This couldn't be real. Those words couldn't be hers. I didn't understand.

"Please, I don't know what happened. I'm so confused." I tried to play up my innocence in this situation. I know I was just caught, Gerudin probably set it up.

"She's the reason we can't ever be safe," Catto explained.

"Well, just tell me the story before we move, I took out Demise, I can destroy a crazy old lady." I nervously walked towards the door to let myself out. Ghirahim held out a hand to keep me from moving.

"We can't trust you." Catto declared. I felt my self feel choke up a bit at her words.

"Yes, you can." I corrected her. She shook her head. "I-I worked so hard to be with you guys, I know I've messed up way more than this before, you can absolutely trust me."

"We still love you, we just can't trust you now. We are going to figure out how to handle this. But for now, you need to stay here." She said as she and Ghirahim began to walk out of the door and close it behind them. My breathing quickened and I immediately tried to bust through the door after them. Ghirahim quickly turned around and brought his foot back and kicked me back several feet. I fell onto the mucky wet floor.

"What- what if it freezes?" I called after them while trying to get back up. I watched the door slowly close shut and Ghirahim answered.

"The enchantment's broken because of you, so you should stay warm." The door closed and locked. My panic began to lay into my mind. I got back up and quickly ran over to try and force the door open. I rammed my body into it. I screamed and punched it until my hands were raw. There was no damage or progress made with the door. I tried casting some magic to get it open but it seemed futile. My powers felt weaker inside this room. There was no escaping. Were they truly going to keep me in there until the move? How long was I going to go without food or water until then?

I began to feel claustrophobic and anxious. I tried climbing the walls to see if anything the ceiling was loose but nothing was. I knocked on every stone on the walls and floors for hopes that something was out of place. I needed to break that door down or escape, staying in there wasn't an option. I got progressively more desperate. I decided to go back to the door and bang to more and try to break it down.

"Please!" I screamed. "PLEASE!" I screeched like a banshee and it scared myself to hear my voice echo back. "I'll do better I promise! I can't be alone in here!" I meant it. Things always went bad when I was truly alone. I had no idea what it might be like to be trapped within nothing and nobody, how was I going to react. "Please-!" I sobbed loudly as I gently knocked my head against the door. "Please!" I knocked my head against it a little harder. "PLEASE!" I hit myself a little too hard and I gasped in pain. I held my hand to my head to put some pressure on the new bruise I probably made.

I realized I was going insane, I wasn't going to let myself get that out of hand again, I decided to take some deep breaths. I turned around and leaned against the door with my back. I slowly slid down and sat on the floor, which was wet and slippery. I closed my eyes and tried to find something to focus on, memories, or thoughts that could calm me down or get me through this. I let my mind wander through only the good memories which weren't many, but brought back feelings of simplicity and comfort. Both of which I needed.

 _"You're going to have to wait here."_ Link said to me while he went towards the front door. He seemed grumpy as normal. I was only five at the time.

 _"O-oh ok."_ I quivered. He turned to look at me. His face didn't seem so irritated anymore. _"When can I go outside again?"_ I asked nervously, I felt like he was going to get mad at the question.

 _"I am only going to be a few minutes. I'm going to just grab some bread so there's no need to be worried, alright?"_ He reassured. I was young but I noticed he didn't answer my question. He sighed and closed the door to walk back to me. He equated down to meet my height as best as he could. _"You're not in trouble. You just... scared some people when you got upset."_

 _"But I'm so little,"_ I answered. Tears flooded my eyes. I didn't want anyone scared of me.

 _"You are little. Many people here aren't very brave, so they let little things scare them. Little things like you, but it's not your fault they are like that."_ He explained. _"You just have to be strong and wait it out. It will get better."_ I nodded.

 _"I just- I wanted to be good."_ I sniffled. A stray tear escaped my eye. He looked at it and took his thumb to wipe it away.

 _"You are good. You are one of the goodest people up here."_ He laughed, _"You're a lot more good than I am."_

 _"No! No, I am not! You're a superhero!"_ I gasped in surprise. He shook his head with a laugh.

 _"I'm not super, and I'm not much of a hero either."_ He shrugged. _"But you, you're good, even if you don't think so. Even if people say that you're bad, you need to be brave. You need to stick your head high and prove them wrong. You gotta have some courage, otherwise, you will only be what people make of you."_ I nodded in determination.

Then my mind quickly jumped to another memory.

 _"What are you doing here, freak?"_ A boy from the grade above me in the youth knight program hollered at me. He had a group of friends with him. I was eight at the time. I held my books close to my chest as I was walked up the stairs of the academy.

 _"I'm heading to class," I_ said as I turned back around to walk up the stairs. I was well aware that most of the people in the program didn't like me, I wanted to avoid confrontation if I could.

_"What for? You're never going to be allowed to become a knight. You're a freak! You're gonna end up killing all of us."_

_"You don't have to go out of your way to speak negatively."_ I turned to snap him. I didn't notice another boy at the top of the stairs waiting for the right moment to come down and shove the books from my arms onto the floor. When he did I watched my papers spill out and my work become disorganized down the flight.

 _"Go back with the worms on the surface, freak."_ He laughed. I held my tongue, but I was definitely getting flustered.

 _"How about you boys head to class instead of interfering with someone else's schedule."_ Link spoke from the top of the stairs. The kid's faces fell from amusement to intimidation. They quickly ran up the stairs and shoved me to the ground while they snickered to themselves and headed to class. I dusted off my uniform and got to my feet.

 _"If you don't have courage, you'll let them beat you down."_ Link said as he met me at the top of the stairs.

 _"Thanks."_ I huffed.

 _"You got it next time."_ He grinned with a thumbs-up _._

My mind warped to another memory.

I was sitting on the roof of the academy and reading a book between classes. I was twelve at the time. I heard some of the mean boys picking on someone in the sparring grounds. I decided I needed to stay out of it. I wasn't going to get myself thrown into trouble for someone else's sake. 

_"Your mom probably didn't even want you. She always talks about how she was too young when she had you."_ He teased and his friends laughed in support. I didn't hear a response from whoever it was, I wouldn't say much back either.

 _"What? Remlit got your tongue?"_ He egged. I decided to peak over and see who it was that they were teasing. It was one of the younger academy boys. He looked to be ignoring them and drawing in the dirt with a stick. One of the other boys laughed as he ran up and kicked the boy so he fell on his face into the dirt. My body clenched. The boy wasn't getting up. He just landed there and was going to accept it. I mean, it's tough being in that position.

 _"At least I dare to stand up afterward,"_ I mumbled under my breath. But I choked on the sentence. I felt the pain of getting kicked in the dirt before, so what was I doing by sitting on a roof and not helping him? That's not courage, I was disgusted with myself.

I quickly climbed down and ran up to the boy and stood between him and the rest of the bullies. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.

 _"Well, if it isn't Miss snow cone-head!"_ The boy laughed.

 _"Takes someone with a cone-head to know a cone-head."_ His group was quiet but a couple of whispers were hissed. He grumbled.

_"Yeah, but I'd rather be a cone-head than a dumb mutant like you!" He retorted._

_"I mean, you're clearly not content with being a cone-head since you only go around breaking down other people,"_ I explained. He didn't want to hear it though.

 _"Y-you are a cone-head."_ A voice stuttered behind me. It was the boy I was trying to help.

 _"Excuse me?"_ I choked in surprise.

 _"You heard him!"_ The bully yelled and pointed. I quickly realized I was somehow alone. Even when I try to help, people turn against me. The boy I was helping got up and ran away. I was left with the assholes by myself. A couple of professors noticed the commotion and quickly approached us, Link trailed behind them.

 _"What is happening here?"_ Professor Eagus demanded.

 _"She was picking on innocent underclassmen!"_ They accused. I backed away and shook my head.

 _"We're you causing trouble again, girl!"_ Another professor shouted at me _._

 _"No! I was trying to help!"_ I explained quickly in a panic.

 _"What do you have to gain by helping?"_ Someone asked. Voices were becoming muffled as I was attacked with questions to answer. I was surrounded by bullies and teachers that hated me.

 _"Nothing, I was just trying to be good!"_ I answered.

_"You'd never do something heroic like that!"_

_"Why wouldn't she?"_ Link asked and walked to stand behind me. He placed a hand on my shoulder. _"I am raising her, aren't I?"_

 _"Head Knight Link, we are not insulting your ability to raise her, there are just some things about who she is that can not be trained away."_ Professor Eagus defended himself. I was beginning to get angry at how they were talking about me.

 _"I can assure you that I have raised her to be an excellent kid, who may be one of the best knights Skyloft will see."_ He announced pridefully. _"If she says she was trying to help, then I would very well believe her. It's not the first time I've had run-ins with this group before either."_ Link glared at the boys in front of us.

 _"That thing will never truly complete the academy training. She is not capable! She might not even have the brain capacity for finishing her courses."_ My fists clenched tightly. I could most definitely pass some dumb classes.

 _"If she takes after me she will."_ Link chuckled.

 _"She won't! She's not a hero, she's a monster!"_ The bully boy shouted. He began to cause a scene by fake crying and holding his arm as though it was in pain. _"Just before you came out here, she let the underclassman get away, and then she came after me for protecting him!"_

 _"Don't you hear that, Sir? She most definitely can not be trusted!"_ A professor shouted from the back. The crowds were drawing attention and more numbers. _"What did she do to you, son?"_

 _Son?_ Did they call that brat a son? I was out here helping and doing something honorable. I got backstabbed and I am brushed off as a monster! But he puts on a show and gets the title of being a random professors' " _son"._

 _"She-she"_ He quivered as he tried to get some words out. He began to act as though he was getting an artificial heat flash in his arm and hissed. " _I think she broke my arm. That's not the worst thing either! I heard her chant some weird spell like-like a demon!"_ My eyes shot at him. A disgusting crack was heard and the boy fell to the ground. He clenched his arm tight to him. Link gripped my shoulders tight and muttered under his breath.

_"Dammit."_

I turned to him confused. I didn't understand what happened. The boy was picked up and his arm was limp and deformed in many different parts of his bone. Link turned to me.

 _"You need to go home. You are brave, but to be a hero you need to never wish pain onto anyone... even the bad guys."_ He explained nervously. I nodded. He turned me around and pushed me to start running back home on my own. Alone.

My body clenched and shivered as I woke up. I must have dozed off while recalling memories like those; memories I had locked away. A few tears rolled down my cheeks. I hugged my knees close to myself. Link had his flaws, but he truly did care about me. He was there and kept me looking forward to helping people. I am courageous because of him. He may have lied and grown to be an older grumpier version of himself, but during my most vulnerable times, he truly did more behind the scenes that I gave him credit for.

I quickly wiped away more tears that fell down my face and onto my knees. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I saw my breath cloud up in my face. It was getting significantly colder in here. I quickly jolted up. My legs and but were all cold and wet.

"Hey? What's going on?" I shouted a the door. A familiar maleficent laugh echoed the chamber. Gerudin must have reactivated the weather-charm. I hugged myself with my arms and tried to create some warmth from the friction.

"Let me out!" I screamed. "It's getting cold in here, please!" No one was answering. I wouldn't be surprised that if this was once a prison that it had a soundproofing charm installed as well. I pounded on the door. It was only getting exponentially colder. I tried using a fire starting-charm and it just wasn't igniting. My other powers were weakening in the chamber as well. I had some sort of block that kept me from using them. I got paranoid. How was I going to get out of this?

I was shivering harder by the minute. My toes were getting frostbite. What was I supposed to do in a situation like this? Just let my human shell shatter and die from hypothermia and until then, just suffer? How am I supposed to know how far my body will take me before switching back to my true form? It took so much pain before for it to break the first time.

"Help!" I screamed again. It was no use. No one was going to hear me. Today wasn't the day to roll out of bed in my pajamas. I needed to create warmth somehow. I tried running in place, but after a bit, my numb toes began to hurt. I tried keeping my fingers in my armpits and I kept pacing around the room. The floor was wet from the melted ice, which meant my feet were also soaked and probably completely frozen, not to mention my wet legs and nightgown from sleeping on the floor. It felt so painful to keep walking but I knew if I sat down or stayed still that I would get freeze faster.

Time was uncertain. I didn't have doors or windows and I didn't know how long it had been since I was placed in there. It could have been minutes or hours. I couldn't tell a difference. My eyes were dry and struggling to not freeze shut. My fingers were still in my armpits but they were already past the point of saving. The frozen skin on my feet began to crack and bleed over the floor. My scar from stepping on glass a few nights ago had opened up as well. My numbness crept up my calves. I didn't move my ankles while I walked since I lost feeling to them. I just drug my feet with my knees and hips so I could continue to walk around the tiny room.

I started to trip and feel tired. I just wanted to lay down and sleep. It must have been getting close to nighttime with how tired I was. Wasn't it just morning? I just woke up? Why was I here in the first place? I must have done something terrible. Regardless, I needed help and I needed sleep.

"Pl-spleez!" I tried to yell but my mouth felt too numb to not slur my words. I also didn't have to lung capacity anymore to project what I needed to. "I'mmzz geh-ing too c-cold!" I forced myself to say. Yet there was still no answer. I walked over to the door and tried to grab the handle but I began to fall into the door. I could barely stand anymore. I held tight to the handle as my only support to keep me up. I wanted the door to open. I wanted it to open bad. So when a flash of light blinded me and the door slowly creaked open, I didn't know what to make of it. I stumbled out slowly and fell lazily back into the door, closing it behind me. My feet stood in a constant pool of blood they created in every step. My hair stuck to my face and wouldn't move for me to see. I walked down the hall and peered out the window. It was dusk. It had barely been five or so hours but it felt like an eternity. I didn't know what to do. How did I even get in there? I needed Ghirahim and Catto, I bet some crazy person trapped me in there.

I stumbled my way down the hall leaving my footprints of blood to follow me. I began to notice that I stopped shivering, despite still being numb and cold, my body must have been calming down from getting out of there. I fell into the door to their bedroom as I tried to open it. I fell into the room but I was unable to properly catch myself. My body slapped on the floor. It hurt and I bruised my face more.

"What the hell?!" Ghirahim yelled in fear. I couldn't stand up. I laid there and relaxed. It felt nice to be on the ground for a bit. I heard footsteps run up to me. I had my arms grabbed and pulled upwards until I was on my knees.

"She's freezing." Catto gasped. "You said she'd be safe in there!"

"She was until someone placed the charm back on it." He defended himself.

"Someone locked me in the-the," I muttered. My words blended and made little sense. "The winter?" I wasn't sure if I was making sense. But there was a large gap in my memory now.

"Come on." Catto drug me by my hand and put me in the bed. She covered me with many blankets. I start to quickly warm-up.

"I'mmawarm now." I slurred.

"You have severe hypothermia. You need to get back to a healthy temperature. You could go into cardiac arrest any second now if we aren't careful." Catto was focused on making sure I was tucked in nicely. She turned to Ghirahim. "Be careful, go check it out. Bring back a warm drink." She instructed. He walked out of the room. She rushed into the closet and pulled out some clothes. She rushed back over but she was extremely out of breath. She had to sit at the foot of my bed and take a few seconds. I felt bad but I didn't know why.

"Are you sick?" I asked. She shook her head while panting.

"No, I'm pregnant." She answered. I raised my brows at her.

"You are?" I questioned confused. She widened her eyes.

"Shit." She gasped and stood up to uncover me again she pulled my nightgown off and threw it onto the floor. I felt embarrassed by being there mostly naked, but she didn't seem to care at that moment. She gently pulled a shirt over my head. It was dry and warm. She then tried to pull some loose pants up my legs. As soon as I was clothed she tucked me back in and she began to pace.

"Where is he?" She mumbled to herself.

"Who?" I interjected.

"Stop talking and rest." She spat. I did as I was told. A few more minutes and Ghirahim ran in was a steaming mug but he didn't seem too focused on it.

"The door is opened but the room is empty, her powers must have unlocked it out of a state of desperation." He brought the drink over to me and gave me a bit first sip. "She's going to have to drink this fast."

"She has to warm up gradually or she could die. What's the matter?" Catto went and sat back down at the foot of the bed.

"We have to leave for Lanayru, now." 


	20. Chapter 20

“What do you mean now?” Catto asked for clarification.

“I mean, we are no longer safe here. We must leave now.” Ghirahim’s voice escalated in anxiety. He was holding the mug of warm soup to my face for me to drink quickly. Catto walked up and took it from him, then she pushed him away. She brought the mug to my mouth and helped me drink slowly.

“I’m weeks away from having a baby and she needs to take the rest of the day to warm up and recover or she might be at risk for many life-threatening symptoms.” She argued.

“Well, we don’t have a choice. I will carry her but we are going to have to leave.” He began to walk to the closet and grabbed a large bag. He began to throw a lot of random items from the room into it.

“If she wanted us dead she would have already tried something by now,” Catto explained.

“I’m well aware, sweetie.” He answered sarcastically. “But I’m not willing to take the risk of waiting around for that.” He walked back over and dug through some of the dressers. He opened Catto’s and pulled out her two old journals. “Do you want these?” He asked. She nodded and he placed them into the bag. She gave me another sip of soup.

“I can’t walk in the heat of the desert while I’m this pregnant.” She insisted.

“Ok, then I’ll carry you too. But we must leave regardless.” He ran out of the room to grab some more things.

“I’m feeling a lot better” I spoke between sips and reassured her with a smile.

“You’re not slurring anymore.” She added. “But you’re still at high risk for other side effects from your temperature being so low.”

“Wouldn’t I have been fine? My body would just break, I’d still have my other form.” I clarified.

“Yes, but are you willing to go through the pain and suffering in hopes it’ll shatter? Besides, demons need to stay warm. I don’t know all the problems that can come from that, but there’s a reason they try to keep away from the cold.” I nodded. She placed her hand on my forehead and waited. She nodded and then took it off. “You’re getting there.”

“She’s going to have to get there fast.” Ghirahim came back in with his bag full of stuff. “I’m sure she’ll warm up fine in the desert heat.”

“That could hurt her.” Catto objected.

“She will have to grow up then. A little pain will be fine. You, however,” he walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He took a deep breath and then didn’t finish his sentence. “She gets ten more minutes.” He instructed. Catto groaned and looked back towards me. Ghirahim walked back out of the room to do whatever else he needed to do. Catto stood up and went to the closet. She pulled out a large wicker basket and folded some small rags and placed them in there. She and put on a large blue cloak. It covered most of her face and completely engulfed her.

“You’ll be hot,” I told her. She shook her head and rolled the hood off her head.

“No, it’ll protect me from the sun. I’ll stay cooler this way. I would know since I lived there for so long.” She explained. She grabbed another large cloak and set it on the bed next to me. I slowly sat up and reached for it. I pulled it over myself and stood up on my feet. My foot was still cut from the other night when I stepped on the glass. It stung as it hit the floor.

“I can wrap that,” Catto said pushing me back to sit on the bed. She pulled out some gauze from a drawer in her dresser and began to wrap both my feet tightly. When she was done she left and came back with my clothes and boots. She turned her back for me to get changed and ready. I snapped my fingers and had my bow and arrows appear. We began to exit the room and I stopped and realized I left the cloak she gave me on the bed. I decided to leave it there, it was still going to be too hot for something like that. Ghirahim and Catto waited together for me.

“So where exactly are we going?” I inquired.

“We are going to have to appear a good distance away from the entrance. I don’t want our teleportation to be tracked.” He answered.

“You can do that?” I gasped in shock.

“Well... she can.” Catto lamented. She reached out and took my hand. “Don’t let go.” I gave her an affirming nod. I took a glance throughout the hallway and in a blink, it was gone. We were in the middle of the desert heat in Lanayru. Ghirahim began to march us in a distinct direction. Catto pulled the hood of her cloak over her. I followed them closely. Sand filled my boots and the heat quickly began to bother me. I was already exhausted enough from being frozen to death, now I’m going to burn to death.

“Sand is the bane of my existence,” Ghirahim muttered.

“I thought the demons like the heat?” I suggested echoing what Catto mentioned earlier.

“The heat, sure.“ he agreed. “Sand is just abhorrent. And in all honesty, a human form does not find the heat comfortable enough to make the sand tolerable.” He wasn’t wrong, I noticed that the desert still felt as terrible as normal, I've only been to it in a human form. “I moved to Faron for many reasons, one to get away from sand.” He groaned.

We continued to walk in the heat for much longer than I was expecting. My head was getting fuzzy from the sweat and sun boiling down on me. It was exhausting. Walking never felt so excruciating. It was too hot to make conversation or to simply create some small talk. However, the facial expressions spoke a thousand words. Ghirahim seemed stress with a hint of paranoia peaking though anytime something got too loud or too suspicious. Catto’s face seared with pain and also anger. She seemed genuinely pissed off, it did not seem that it was for anything, in particular, rather it was just her mood at that moment. I never saw her stay in such a state for so long, but then again, she hasn’t had much to be angry about since I’ve known her.

Catto hissed through her teeth and stopped walking. I was next to her so I quickly noticed and halted my blind-follow of Ghirahim’s footprints. He took a few moments to realize we had stopped and turned around. I stood close to Catto but kept my hands to myself. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she took quick shallow breaths. Ghirahim approached her and reached out to help her. She rejected him by holding her arm out as a barrier between them. She slowed her breathing down and began to walk slowly again, without looking at Ghirahim or saying a word.

Another hour or so passed and a similar thing happened again. Catto stopped and her breathing began to become unsteady. She gripped her fists tight and her eyes squished shut again. She was holding in some sort of pain. Ghirahim noticed a lot more quickly this time and turned around.

“You have to let me help you.” He commanded.

“No. I really don’t.” She barked at him. Once she caught her breath again she began to walk and brushed past him. Ghirahim shook with fury and rubbed his face from the sweat dripping down it.

“We are almost there. Please let me know if they get any worse.” He spoked in her direction.

“Will do, captain.” She responded sarcastically while giving a disrespectful salute.

It was getting quite uncomfortable by being a third party in this situation. I wasn’t sure what exactly set them off but they were not happy with each other and I didn’t want to be in the middle of it.

After about half an hour more of walking, we reached a great dry, desert mountain that was covered in sand. It cast a large shadow over us and Ghirahim reached out his hand and touched it. A loud _zap_ sound was heard and he jerked his hand back in pain. He growled to himself and in anger he clenched his shocked hand and punched it at the wall again, leaving him to howler in pain again after being shocked a second time.

“They are not going to let us in until the day I told them we would be arriving... Next week.” He sat down in the sand and held his head in his hands.

“You’re shitting me, right?” Catto cursed, surprisingly, rolled her eyes in disgust. She doesn’t normally act like this.

“You’re talking as if you’re annoyed to be here, despite having lived here for the past SEVENTEEN YEARS!” Ghirahim’s voice escalated in volume quickly.

“I wasn’t thirty-eight weeks pregnant and making a thrown-together plan on how to run away!” She yelled back.

“Your plan was running away!”

“Yeah, well, at least my way worked for seventeen years! This is just going to put a blanket over the problem, not solve anything! We will probably be dead by morning!” She pointed her finger accusingly at him. “If you just calmed down and tried to face the problem we wouldn’t be here!”

“Am I not permitted to be concerned over your safety first?” He raised his hand in shock of what she was accusing him of.

“Not when you know that it puts the rest of our safety at risk!” She exclaimed. “None of that even matters anymore, because we are here now! But it looks like no one is going to help us because those assholes don’t give a shit about me or that I am pregnant!”

“They will care if I command them too!”

“No, they won’t. They do not think of you as any sort of authority anymore.” Her face was turning red and she was getting out of breath. Ghirahim’s face switched to concern.

“You need to relax.” He slowly stood up and walked towards her. He was done arguing. She exhaled emphatically in response. “I’ll get us somewhere safe.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. He guided us along the side of the mountain away from the entrance. We kept close in the narrow path of shade to keep cool. We didn’t go too far, we came to a concave part of the mountain and he used his powers to blow a hole into it. A small, dim cave was visible after the dust settled.

“Rest here, I’m going to gather some supplies for a fire.” He said as he turned to walk away. I chuckled thinking he was being sarcastic.

“Yeah, as if we need any more heat.” I fussed. He rolled his eyes and continued to walk away. I realized he was serious.

“It gets really cold at night in the desert.” Catto corrected. She walked past me and into the cave. She tried to sit down but struggled to get to the floor. I rushed over and grabbed her arm to help lower her down. She pulled out one of the rags from her basket and wiped the sweat from her face. She lied down on the dirty floor and rolled onto her side she placed the rag over her head.

“Are you ok?” I asked her. She seemed exhausted, which is completely understandable, I just had no idea how to react.

“Yeah.” She answered shortly. She wasn’t ok. Was she upset with me now? I sat for a few minutes in the bitter silence between us.

“She’s in a lot of pain.” Ghirahim broke the silence as he walked into the cave carrying two large tumbleweeds. He held them by their base but he seemed a bit scratched up. A few drops of blood speckled his skin where he got poked. This was the first time I had ever seen him bleed. His human form probably can’t take more damage than that without beginning to crack.

He broke off parts to separate the small, light kindling, from the large sticks and bases for the fire. He then started building the foundation for the fire itself. He seemed focused on Catto as he built it. She didn’t move much while she lied there and kept the rag over herself. Every so often, Ghirahim would poke her foot with a stick and she would reflexively wiggle in response.

“She finds it difficult to express what she’s feeling when she’s in pain.” He said to me as we sat around the unlit fire pit. I could feel the temperature drop as the sun slowly set, just as Catto said. “Whether it is mental or physical pain, she just doesn’t quite understand how to talk about it. So instead she gets angry and takes it out in other ways to distract her.”

“Do you know what might be wrong?-“ before I got the last word completely from my mouth he answered.

“She’s going into labor, but she’s trying to keep it to herself.” He said as he poked her foot again. I couldn’t tell if she was awake or asleep with her face covered. I don’t think Ghirahim cared either way. “The heat is inducing her early. Which isn't surprising. She knew this would probably happen.” He pointed at the basket next to her. It made more sense why she brought it now.

“Is there anything we can do?” I asked him in a slightly hushed voice. He just shrugged.

“We could have brought her to safety in the city, but your mishap with the most unstable person in existence messed that up.” He grumbled.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know-“

“I know you didn’t. She planned it all... Gerudin She knew how this would play out the moment you set foot on the surface. We imprisoned you in hope that if she had some sort of fixation on you that we could keep her at bay until we figured out something else. It was clear she predicted that when she refroze the room after we put you inside” He took a deep breath. It is my fault she is after us in the first place.” I was shocked he was opening up about this so easily right now, however, his defeated tone was a downer on the conversation. Even still, I was almost anxious with anticipation for some answers. “I sold her my bond with my master in exchange for a bond with Catto after she died.” It began to get colder and darker, so Ghirahim snapped his fingers and lit the fire. “I had to complete the deal during my ritual when I captured the Goddess, but my plan was soiled and the bond with my master completely dissolved before I could transfer it. So I am still indebted to her.”

“That’s all? She just wants something from us? Why don’t we give her something of equal value?” I suggested. “Then she’d leave us alone right?” Ghirahim looked guiltily at the ground. He shook his head in response.

“The bond was invaluable. There’s nothing she would take instead.” He forced his words out and seemed to be lying. He wasn’t making much effort to cover it up the dishonesty. “Besides, I wouldn’t be so desperate again to hand over that power to a loon like her.”

“So, we just keep running?” I asked.

“Until she shrivels up and dies she will be after us. She is completely driven by her madness. She lived in the forest, alone, as long as the islands have been in the sky. If she ever got her hands on power such as I promised her, she may become equal or stronger than the Goddess or my master. She alone would overtake the balance of this world, destroying who knows how much.” When he spoke about her, I could tell he was truly concerned. She seemed terrifying, even more than when I encountered her.

“Is there any way we can kill her or trap her? Maybe we could get the upper-hand.” I suggested. He shook his head.

“She is far more powerful than she lets us believe that she is. She truly is capable of destroying us.” He poked Catto again in the foot. She lazily kicked her leg to try and get him to stop. He easily took her blow, catching her foot and rubbing it slightly to ease her.

“She knows this is a weak time for me.” Catto sighed from the floor.

“Understandably.” I agreed. She was about to have a baby, what is a more vulnerable time?

“She attacked us the day you were born. So out of a desperate need for a plan, I tried to do what I could to keep us safe for the time being. She was the reason I had to give you up.” She confessed as she explained. A lot of things were making sense now.

“I’m sure if we get into the city we will be safe,” I reassure. I seemed to be the only positive voice here right now.

“Only because of the numbers. She could easily get into the city whenever she wanted. I am just hoping by having the masses of demonfolk surrounding us that it’ll be a deterrent for a while longer.” Ghirahim slowly lied down on the ground and covered his face with his arms. “We just have to get in there for this to work.”

“What can we do to get in there faster?” I asked.

“I can send an update message to them in hopes we can move up our entry time.” He sighed. He began to mouth some words under his breath and then exhaled profoundly as if blowing a bubble. “I sent an urgent message, hopefully, someone in the Parlament will hear it and decide what to do.”

“Why didn't you do that sooner?” I growled.

“Because regardless they weren’t going to let us in today,” Catto answered. “Their schedule is what matters most, once Ghirahim enters again he technically will throw all of their authority out of the window, which they don’t want. They don’t want to deal with our problems and shit so they don’t care if a dumb human is in labor and a crazy lady is after us. They approved us to come when they wanted us to come.”

“Do they have no sympathy?” I interjected. Catto sat up, ready to answer.

“Imagine you were running an elite and progressive society, given the circumstances that you’re people are banished from living above and about the surface. The majority of the world despises the demons for their power, they would do anything to get into your sanctuary and burn it down. You need to have a strong barrier between your people and the rest of the world. Now, imagine that a long lost prince shows up and he’s married to a frog and the frog is having babies soon. It is your obligation to serve the prince and his frog as proper rulers because of divine power bestowed on him by the founder of the society. You’d have to sacrifice the security of your people for the prince and his dumb frog to let them in and hope the attacker doesn’t follow. How would you react to the frog prince showing up earlier than you originally established?” Catto rolled her eyes when I didn’t answer her. “Exactly. I wouldn’t blame you either.”

“But you’re not a frog, you’re a person!” I chided.

Ghirahim let out a couple of chuckles to himself. “A frog compared to a demon... indeed.”

“Is that how demons see humans?” I barked.

“Yes.” They both answered together.

A short moment of silence fell over us. Before Ghirahim sat up again and seemed focused on something. He nodded to himself.

“Three days.” He spoke aloud. “They will let us come in on the dawn of the third sunrise.” He slowly went back to lie on the ground where he was comfortable. “If we survive until then.” He mumbled sarcastically to himself.

“I wish there was some wood I could knock on in hopes not to jinx us.” Catto huffed. “I’m in the early stages of labor, so let’s pray we can make until then.”

“We will,” I assured. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh* Another lengthy chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Trying to keep these chapters coming atcha every weekend. Thank you for the continuous support! Please continue to leave kudos, comment, and read! They are great ways to show that you enjoy my work and they cost $0 and most take 2 seconds to do!
> 
> THANK YOU FOR THE KUDOS  
> Guest (you know who you are)
> 
> -Iris


	21. Chapter 21

I rubbed my face from beads of sweat rolling down my cheeks. It was early morning but it was already hotter than the midday in Faron. The fire was put out and Ghirahim sat by Catto's side and held her hand. Her eyes were closed but she wasn't sleeping. She was baring through whatever pain she was in.

"What's going on?" I asked concerned.

"She needs water, shes going to be having the baby soon," Ghirahim explained. He was surprisingly calm.

"Where can I find water? It's a desert." I looked around to see if anything in the distance outside the cave could help.

"M-my cabin." Catto gritted through her teeth and squeezed Ghirahim's hand tight. "I have a lot of basins. It's fresh- a lot may have evaporated by now." her sentences were choppy due to her pain. Ghirahim snapped his fingers and I was expecting him to disappear, but instead, my surroundings flashed and I was on the plateau with a giant skeleton and an old forgotten shack. Of course, he didn't want to leave her side. But I thought we couldn't teleport right now. I walked into the cabin there were a lot of pots and basins around. Many of which were bone dry. A few had cork lids and I popped them off. A reflective glaze covered to bottoms and I saw some ripples within it. I managed to pour any water I found into one basin, but it still wasn't enough for what we needed for. I popped the cork back on the top and left it inside while I went toward the area I took that sapling from before. 

Once I got on the small island I tapped the crystal. The small robot's skeleton disappeared entirely and I was alone. I was able to break a piece of crystal and bring it over to the edge of the small island I was on. The current of sand rushing around me turned to water as I approached it. I dipped my hand in and tasted. It was fresh. I snapped my finger and brought the basin to me. I dipped it in and pulled the now heavy, full container back up. I popped the cork back on quickly to keep it from evaporating. I had a good three or four gallons. It was heavy, I didn't know how I was going to lug this back if I couldn't teleport directly to the cave. I'd have to get as near as possible without giving away the location.

I hugged the large basin in front of me and walked back over to the cabin. I tapped the crystal close to the dragon and had it light the area to life.

He wasn't looking well. Many of his little robot friends gathered around him. He lifted his head from a very restful position to see me.

"Time travel girl." He spoke with some excitement. I didn't know why he called me that. I assumed it was from the time-shift stones, but he was used to that from Catto, what made me different? "I hope you are doing much better now? You look a lot happier, I suppose I helped more than I thought." I raised my brows at him in confusion. I suppose the last time I was here, I was a bit of a mess emotionally from finding my mom, but he didn't do much to help. "I see..." he seemed to have read into my reaction a bit. "You need my help?"

"Actually, I was just checking in. But if you can help that would be great." I answered.

"I am willing if I am able." He then went into a large coughing fit.

"I can't teleport, but I need to take the water to Catto as soon as possible. She's in a cave close to the entrance of the demon city."

"Master Thunder Dragon- bzzt." A robot interjected. "Our calculations express that you are exerting much -zrrt-energy into this conversation. You will have your last week come to an early end if you do not conclude it.zzzt"

"Last week?" I questioned.

"It is not much of a 'last few days' if I must lie around and await my fate."

"But, ztttttst, sir-"

"I need one of you to fly our guest over with her basin to our dearest friend, Catto." He ordered. 

"Take her to the western outskirts and leave her just below the Dueling Peaks." Two robots stepped forward and one took the water from me and the other grabbed me under my arms, "but first, please go assume some crystal to take with you." A few more went to chip off some shards and connected them to the robots.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." I thanked graciously.

"You must know, I'm not doing this for free" He added. Oh goodness, what could he want? "All I ask is for you to return within the week and to tell me how my dearest Catto is holding up after she gets that water." That was no problem at all. I nodded in agreement. "Well, off you go now. Don't keep her and the little one waiting." The robots took off with me into the sky, the water next to me. It was a long flight back to where Catto and Ghirahim were. I stayed quiet in thought throughout the journey. I also realize that he never knew Catto was pregnant, I didn't mention it, so how did he know about the "little one?"

The air felt much hotter with the altitude, unfortunately. We weren't high enough for a cool breeze like Skyloft. It continued to burn my skin and I could only suffer through the discomfort as we soared through the sky across the desert. It was a long journey, much farther than what we walked yesterday. But the speed of flying over everything made up for the time.

I looked into the distance and the landscape slowly came into focus. The heat gave the mountains a watercolor appearance, with colors flowing over each other. It was hard to focus and I squinted from the brightness of the yellow sand. I could make out the tops of two mountains parallel to each other. I didn't notice them before from the walk, they were so tall and I wasn't paying any attention until we got to the destination. Now that I could watch the mountains grow, it seemed unnatural with how both the mountains fit together. Part of me knew that it was just a natural phenomenon of the geography of the surface, but it was still quite incredible to be able to wittiness their magnificence.

When we arrived after the extensive flight, the robots lowered me down and handed me the water. I quickly carried it towards the cave. I approached and Ghirahim walked out to keep me from entering.

"In a minute." He instructed. But the water was heavy.

"Well take this in there for her!" I exclaimed and began to hand it to him. His legs buckled slightly under the weight.

"I can't. She's-she's checking something and asked me to wait out here." He looked anxious and held tight to the water.

"Well, when will she be done?"

"I'm done! Please, someone, bring me some water!" Catto screamed. Her voice was cracking in between shouts of pain. We hurried in and I soaked a rag in water to put it on her head and Ghirahim cupped his hands to have her sip from them. She was clenching her fists tightly.

"I'm almost ready to start pushing. I need one person to stay and help." She hissed at us. I felt uncomfortable. I didn't know anything about the birthing process. Ghirahim looked just as astonished at her instruction as I did. However, he nodded and swallowed some fear.

"I can do this." He assured. I wish I was as confident as he sounded.

"I'll help with keeping you cool and giving you water. I just don't think I can do much more medically." I explained. She nodded and reached out her hand and I grabbed it. She squeezed it. She let out loud intermittent screams while she clenched my hand tighter.

Ghirahim stood at her bottom with her legs propped on his shoulders. He exhibited absolute fear and just held his hands out as if the baby was going to fall from the sky. He looked completely repulsed by the situation at hand. I tried to keep my eyes away from her private area. I was neither curious nor interested in seeing what could be happening. I just tried to wipe the sweat off her face and keep her hands in mine.

When she began to push, her face was squished and she gritted through her pain. This seemed far worse than whatever was happening before. My hands were getting bruised from her tight grip. I tried to smile to be a little light in this crazy moment.

Ghirahim yelped and then gained some composure. "Th-there's a head I think... it has hair."

Catto looked as if she was trying to smile in relief. She let out a soft scream and continued to push. Ghirahim placed hands down and looked like he was trying to maneuver something. I kept myself shielded from what was happening; by the sounds that were coming from her body, I am sure it was quite disgusting.

"The head is out. You're almost there." He announced. She let out a final scream and looked like she exerted every last bit of energy she had into pushing the baby out. A muffled choke could be heard and a few moments later a cry broke out around the tunnel. It echoed and Catto held my hand and skilled at the ceiling. I looked back and Ghirahim had something in his hands. But he looked as if he was sick. "There is so much unknown substance that splashed all over me, I quite honestly might vomit." He grabbed a rag from the backers and wiped off the blob that he was holding.

It didn't look like a person, human or demon. It looked like an alien if I was being honest with myself. He wrapped it up and handed it to Catto. "It's a boy." He said. Catto was panting and crying in relief as she lied there holding my new brother in her arms. She wiped stray tears away and tried to calm herself down. An umbilical cord still connected the two to them together but that didn't seem to bother her. I tried to get a good look at him. I could only make out the thin layer of dark hair that stuck to his oddly shaped head. Catto rubbed the head gently and tried to calm down the crying that still echoed in the cave.

"Is he alright?" I asked her, referring to how deformed he looked.

"He's perfect." She sighed in pure affection. She couldn't get her eyes off him. I didn't feel happy, which I felt I should be. "He looks a lot like you." She grinned at me. I was slightly insulted and Ghirahim let out a chuckle while he wiped himself clean. "I meant when you were a baby." She corrected. I still couldn't believe I looked anything like that thing at any point in my life.

"You have a name," Ghirahim stated. He wasn't asking, he was reminding her. She nodded and happy tears flowed once again.

"Donavan." She answered. I raised my brow at her.

"That's a weird name. Does it have a special meaning?" I interjected meticulously. She smiled down at the tiny face.

"It's a name from my world. I just... liked it. I don't know if it has any particular meaning. It's just a name I've wanted to give my son for a while." She seemed to be thinking about something more important. She seemed to have given this name a lot of thought and wanted a son for a while. My face flushed with irritation but I kept it hidden from her. She looked over to Ghirahim who sat quietly at her feet.

"It's fine with me." He shrugged. "I named the last one." He didn't seem too entirely interested. He summoned a small dagger and reached over to cut the cord between Catto and Donovan. He then just sat quietly again watching her calm his cries and give him every bit of her attention. Was Ghirahim jealous? Was I jealous?

"Would you like to hold him?" Catto inquired. I quickly shook my head and distanced myself a bit.

"No. I'm fine, really." I expressed with concern. I was intimidated by such a small fragile creature. It was a lot of work for him to get here, I didn't want to hurt him. Catto looked at me with sympathy and understanding. She looked at Ghirahim next.

"You need to hold him." She instructed. He shook his head quietly.

"I'd rather not. I can admire from him from a distance." He shrugged.

"I wasn't giving you a choice." She told him. "You didn't hold Akomin when you had the chance. This is important." Wow, I didn't know he never held me. It explains a lot.

"I'm telling you that this is not in my interest right now." He snapped at her. He was definitely jealous or frustrated about something.

"And I'm telling you that I don't care if you want to or not, you're going to." She bickered.

"You're not going to change anything by this." He growled, but he reached over and gently lifted the naked baby over from Catto and into his lap. He supported his head with one hand and held the body with the other. He looked blankly at the little person.

Donavan began to choke up as if he was about to cry. He began to let out a few whines. Ghirahim made a look of disgust."Look, he's not happy-"

"Just give him a second." Catto eased. After a few deep breaths, Donavan calmed down a bit. His arms and legs twitched and squirmed around. Ghirahim continued to hold him steady and waited for something to happen.

"He has blue eyes." Ghirahim stayed.

"Most babies do." Catto giggled. "They will change when they get older."

"No, he has your kind of blue eyes." He disagreed. I wouldn't say that his heart was completely softened by the moment that he had with his baby, but I think he gained a newer understanding of something he didn't want to think about before. He didn't say much, but he was hypnotized by the small movements of the baby staring back at him. "He's human too."

"Is that all?" Catto egged. Ghirahim looked back at her. He nodded which wasn't the answer she was hoping for. He slowly placed Donavan back on top of her and then lied down on the floor. Catto carefully reached over to the basket and grabbed another rag. She wrapped him gently with the rag and used the rest as cushions for him to lay in the basket. I helped Catto drink some water and sit up.

The rest of the day continued with many screams and cries making it go fairly slow. The heat and small annoyances made everything feel like the day was drug out. Catto tried to feed Donavan a few time but she got extremely frustrated he wouldn't latch correctly. I think even when he did, it wasn't much and she got very down on herself for it.

I felt bad that I wasn't helping more. I wanted to keep my distance and avoid the two of them as much as possible. I could tell it bothered Catto. Ghirahim was on a similar page that I was, yet Catto was determined to get him to be more involved. It was tedious but hopefully, as time went on and as Donavan grew, maybe we'd all feel a bit closer and like a family. We would all be safe in the city. We wouldn't be alone anymore. We could live an almost normal life.

We just had to make it that far. There were still two more dawns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, thank you for supporting my writing by reading all the way to this chapter! Back to a shorter one but the next chapter is going to be a big one. Thank you for all the love and reviews. I've mentioned before that I am working on GhirahimXCatto prequel story, so if that is something you're interested in please leave a review. I am always open to making conversations with my fans. 
> 
> Anyways, keep being the lovelies that you are and if you can, continue to read, kudos, and comment, it's all free, most only take a few seconds, and it honestly makes my day so much brighter. 
> 
> -Iris


	22. Chapter 22

The second dawn felt like daggers in my body. The sun and heat crept into the cave quickly. It made it difficult to relax. And all the night leading up to it was filled with cries and chaos. Catto was tried hard to keep everything under control and Ghirahim helped a bit here and there. It was their first time raising a baby, so I didn't blame them if it was a rocky start.

I was just very tired.

My stomach growled and I realized we were going to need food very soon, especially Catto. As my stomach grumbled louder, I looked toward Ghirahim who seemed to be stressing about everything and nothing at the same time.

"Do we have any food?" I asked him to interrupt his quiet mental breakdown. He had been sitting in the same spot for several minutes staring at the ground.

"There's a few rations in the bag. Please save some for Catto." He instructed.

"I know. I was just wondering where they were." I assured him. He pointed to the large bag of items he lugged from the house. I walked over to dig around in it and I found a jar of pickled carrots. I popped the lid off and pulled a couple at. I brought the jar carefully over to Catto. She looked at them with lust within her. She grabbed the jar and quickly stuffed her face with the rest of them.

"Is there any way we can contact the council again about letting us in sooner?" I asked. I could tell like today was going to be a long, hot, and miserable. I wanted to see if I could get out of as much as possible. Ghirahim shook his head. I let out a groan of irritation.

"We are all suffering together. We shall make it through this. But complaining will only make today worse." Ghirahim lectured. He was right. It just felt like the only conversations to be had were that of complaining. At that point I decided unless I had something nice to say, I was not going to say anything at all. This process only made me angrier as time went on.

Hours went by with me just sitting in my corner of the cave and fuming to myself. I couldn't stand that constant crying, the constant doting, and focusing on Donavan every second. It was hot, we were in danger, and the chance of potential safety was a few minutes walk away. We were in this mess because of a person that shouldn't even exist. Someone who plays a threat to not only us, but whoever else she decided to target next.

Every so often Catto would glance over to me and give me a reassuring smile. It helped subside some of the frustration, but I still wouldn't speak unless I had a positive thing to say.

"I know this sucks," Catto said. "But we can make it through. We've worked hard to be where we are now. Let's just keep our heads up." I knew she meant well, but I had little motivation.

"I have a question" I stated and they both looked at me with curiosity. "So, Gerudin... Does she have anyone else she's made deals with? Anyone else she targets? She seemed to hate a lot of people when I encountered her, so why is she only persistent in doing something to our family?"

"No, she has succeeded in harming others," Ghirahim responded. "Over the last half-century, she developed a bloodlust and hatred towards the humans."

"Yeah, she talked to me about how she's hated them, but I never heard-"

"She attacked and cursed them from afar while they attempted to colonize. She killed many of them, and I heard she even greatly weakened the Goddess." Ghirahim took the conversation seriously. I didn't realize she was the reason Link had sleepless nights and terrors.

When I was really young, Link, the old Headmaster, and Zelda would alternate between keeping care of me and trying to create a living space for the humans in Faron and other parts of the surface. I remember Link coming back looking extremely shaken and terrified of the things he witnessed. He was at his worst when he brought back Zelda without her leg. I never asked how it happened, I assumed it was monsters, I think that's what everyone assumed.

"She also made a deal with one of Faron's daughters in recent years. I heard Faron banished her to live on the outskirts of lake Floria by herself. I don't know what it entailed. I assume if she hasn't already paid for it, she will soon." He added.

"So she has ruined countless lives, if not destroyed prophecies and destinies?" I was astonished by how much she has been able to accomplish. She was much more than just some crazy lady after us.

"She is also said to be the one that infected Lanayru again after the Hero healed him. She also was rumored to have infected the great Levias with Bilocyte." The list continued to grow.

"Ok, so she is and has been a threat to everyone." How no one has stopped her before all this is beyond me. There had to have been at least one person capable of at least weakening her. "What made her act so insane?"

"She was fairly peaceful and kept to herself for most of the centuries leading up to now. She was already extremely demented during that time, however, she warned me that when she used her power for saving Catto that she would lose the last bit of control and sanity she had left. I had no clue that she would go quite as mad as she did."

A hush of silence went over us. The conversation ended and I had no more positive words to speak on the matter. I relaxed and lied down on the ground to try and just continue with this never-ending day. Being drenched in sweat seemed to be my new norm. I felt like I had jumped into a lake and just climbed out. I daydreamed of iced water and cool air. Perhaps in the city, there were fans or drinks for us to partake it. At the very least, we could change clothes and take a bath. It was a city after all, and from what they talked about, it seems very advanced compared to what the humans have done. I suppose having a large population all crammed together in one area leads to innovation and intelligent minds.

The sun was finally making its fall down the horizon and the sky turned a deep orange. I could feel a difference in temperature. Ghirahim was lying on his back and held his arms in the air, hypnotized by the movements of his hands in the setting sunlight. I was jealous he found something to entertain himself with. I was still quite bored.

"Akomin." Catto chirped from across the cave. I looked up in response. She patted the ground next to her. I shook my head with a smile to politely respond. She was still holding Donavan and I didn't want her to try and force me to hold him as she did for Ghirahim. I think she understood that. She then placed him in the basket again and carried the basket and placed him next to Ghirahim. Ghirahim dropped a hand and let a finger fall into the palm of the infant for him to grip and shake. Ghirahim continued to watch his other hand dance in the dimming light. I looked back at Catto who patted the ground next to her again. I slowly stood up and made my way to her portion of the cave. I kneeled next to her.

"I know a lot is happening. I'm sorry we drug you into this." She apologized.

"No one is really at fault here. Honestly, you have nothing to apologize for." I responded.

"I know, I just feel like you shouldn't be where we are now. I wanted us to grow up together and for you to have as normal of a life as possible." She was getting a bit emotional, she must have been overthinking a lot of this by herself today.

"Really, I'm fine." I eased

"I know you are. And I'm very proud of you." She smiled wide like she always did. I smiled back. She reached up and caressed my cheek with her hand. She always did this for Ghirahim, who always seemed so comforted by it, and now I understood why. The warmth of her hand, the warmth of her heart, her love, everything about who she was, it all felt so close and it just made me want to smile and radiate her kindness back.

She held her hand there and stared at me quietly. I just accepted everything she was giving me. But after a bit, her hand froze and slightly relaxed. And her eyes stopped blinking. Her body began to lean backward and her hand left my face. She fell back and her head cracked against the ground.

"Catto?" I shook her in hopes she would respond. "Catto?!" I was in shock. "CATTO!" I screamed. I grabbed her wrist to feel a pulse but I felt nothing. Ghirahim shot up and clenched his chest panting. He quickly grabbed the basket with Donavan and dove towards me. I wasn't quick enough to get out of the way, but he wasn't diving to hurt me. Donavan began to cry loudly. Ghirahim rolled onto his side and reached a hand up to create a protective shield around the three of us, Catto outside of it.

"What-what about Catto?!" I screeched looking back to try and reach for her body. He used his other hand to snatch me before I could reach outside the barrier.

"She's dead." He panted. I didn't believe him. He was looking towards the entrance of the cave defensively. I looked at Catto, her smile still sat plainly on her face.

"No-no. She was fine just-" my voice was cracking as I held back my tears. But I felt the cries bubbling up in the back of my throat. Ghirahim could tell and he kept one hand up towards the entrance as she turned around to look at me.

"Listen to me-" he began but my tears were creeping their way up to escape me. He tried to interrupt them. "Listen to me!" He shouted. "I felt our bond snap. She's dead." He wasn't crying or angry. He was stressed. He looked into my eyes and I stared back into his. I could see the pain he was hiding. The flame he had even back when I first came to his house, the flame that burned when he found out I was his daughter, and the one that held on to Catto when his master was condemning him, it was burnt out. It vanished from his face, all that was left was a small spark.

"She was always so chatty-chatty." A cackle echoed in front of us. Ghirahim slowly turned his head and refused to give a response, and just as the last time I spoke with her, she never needed one. "With her kiss-ass words and big cliche smile, she was the loveliest Mary Sue." Gerudin's figure was silhouetted by the low, fading sunlight but our eyes were adjusting quickly enough to still make out her disgusting features. "And even in death, she was able to keep that grin of hers."

Neither of us spoke. Ghirahim held his protection barrier strong and reached back his other hand to grab mine. He held it tight, it was an out of character gesture, but I could tell he wasn't trying to feel _my_ hand.

"You can give me the silent treatment and hold your little fort as long as you want, but your soul is severed and your body is weakening. You'll only keep me out a few hours at best." She swayed to herself. It almost looked as if she were drunk. "And I've been patient this long, a few more hours is nothing." Ghirahim still kept his mouth shut. He turned to look at me.

"What to do we do?" I whispered to him. He clenched his eyes shut and took some deep breathes.

"I'm thinking." He whispered back.

"If I wanted to make this a bit more fun, I could certainly add some flare." She snapped her fingers and some flaming balls rushed towards us, I reflexively ducked and flinched, but they went out as soon as they hit the barrier.

"You know, your kid there is still pretty strong like I said before, she would be a good equivalent." She giggled.

"Shut up!" Ghirahim sneered. My eyes widened and I looked at him. He held my hand tighter.

"What does she mean?" I asked him. He shook his head in response.

"You keep so many secrets, I'm giving you this time to be open- family bonding if you will. Why don't you just tell her what she should know." Gerudin jeered. "I already tried to get her to come with me willingly, but she had too much of her mother in her to listen. All you need to do is hand her over now and you could keep the little one and be on your way."

"You're the only thing that could be traded to finish the deal," Ghirahim whispered to me. I was still confused. I began to pull my hand away from his but he held it tighter to keep me from letting go.

"I can do it, I'll be fine," I assured him but he still didn't let go.

"You look just like her." He whispered. "I noticed the first time we met but I thought it was just a coincidence. Seeing you both side-by-side made me feel like a fool." He refused to turn back and look and me now. He just held my hand and stayed in his defensive position. What was he doing?

"Ghirahim, let me out," I instructed. He let out a small chuckle.

"You have her voice too." He was going to go crazy.

"He won't let you out, he knows you'll try to fight." She hummed. She sat down on the ground and held her feet together with her hands while she laughed to herself.

"Yeah, well- I'd do a damn good job too! I'd send you back to the hell you crawled out of." I yelled at her. She just laughed some more.

"Oh, and you think you have the capability to do that? You're powerful, yes, coordinated, no." She seemed entertained by my argument.

"I destroyed Demise! I'm an akomus, I could tear your wrinkly-ass off any day!" It was frustrating that none of my words hurt her as much as hers did to me.

"You dim-witted dillweed. I am an akomus!" Her voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. I didn't know how to respond. I wasn't expecting that to be her response. I thought me and Demise were the only ones.

"There's no point bickering with her. She is more powerful than either of us." Ghirahim hushed. "You're an akomus, she knows the power you hold, she was going to take you for collateral if your mother hadn't left with you first."

"Ok, so we can't fight her, and all she wants is to kill us or take me?" I repeated to him. "Then I'll completely surrender and you two can live," I stated. I didn't see what the issue was. If I did what she said then there wouldn't be any issues, both of them could live and grow up.

"You're not going out there." He took a deep breath. "I have a plan by you need to put the shield up after I drop it." He muttered to me. I nodded. I hope whatever this was worked. He seemed confident. He dropped my hand and snapped a finger. A small dagger was held in his free hand. He twirled it in his fingers and I didn't notice him reach back and slice my arm. I hissed in pain and he grabbed the slice with his hand, leaving it covered in blood. He dropped his shield shortly after he sprinted out. I quickly raised them again but he didn't say when to pull them back down so he could come back in. With a quick shot, Gerudin fired some sort of spell at his chest and he fumbled forward. He grabbed her left hand and pushed his dagger all the way through, her hand was oozing a black tar substance. While she was distracted by her hand he reached up and ripped the necklace off her neck. He turned to look at me and had a slight smile on his face. I was beginning to think I should put down the shields but when I released it they were still up. Donavan's screaming stopped, and Gerudin wasn't moving from her position.

"I stopped our current flow of time." Ghirahim smiled at me. "I needed to use your blood to stop yours as well, otherwise I would have been in this state by myself."

"Why would you do that?" I asked him. I stood up and he walked close to the shield that was between us.

"She hit me with a powerful spell that was greater than any magic I'm capable of dealing with. It penetrated my human flesh and damaged the rest of my soul." He explained. "I will be dead within a few moments after I finish using this chamber."

"No, I mean, there has to be a way to stop that," I argued. He shook his head. He seemed very unbothered.

"I'm using the last bit of power I have left to hold us in here right now. It still would not have been enough to help me."

"But why? Why would you risk all that for a stupid necklace? We could have just talked after, or while you were holding up the shield."

"I wanted to have this conversation with you without her snarky remarks." He shrugged. "I didn't just do it for the necklace, I got a fairly critical hit on her soul as well. She still is too powerful than anything I could muster anymore." He laughed and looked back at her. She had the dagger through her hand and clenched in pain. "You can finish her off once I'm gone. It should not be an issue for you."

"You just said she was still incredibly powerful! She's an akomus and she's-"

"Not more powerful than you." He finished. I was shocked by this. Until now he said she was so powerful. That nothing could stop her. "You lack the competency at this point to control your full potential, however you perform well under fits of emotion. I am confident that when we are done here, you'll be upset enough to take her out once and for all."

"Yeah, of course! But why didn't you tell me sooner I was this powerful?" I asked.

"Because you possess a lot of courage." He explained. "If you knew you stood a chance you would have put yourself at risk to go after her. I could not see that happen." He choked on those last words. "As I have admitted before, I have not been the best parent to you. However I have truly grown to see you as-" he stopped himself and took a deep breath. "You emulate the best qualities of your mother. Which is something that made me grow to care for over the past year or so being around you." He couldn't possibly be confessing this now? This made me realize how serious he was being. He truly was going to die.

"I mean, that means you'll have to hang on! You can't abandon me, you never would have abandoned, Catto." I barked at him. Tears escaped my eyes and my cries from before finally erupted. "Don't you see her? She's dead, I'm all you have left of her now! Me and Donovan- we both need you!" My hideous sobs made it hard for me to breathe.

"You're right, if I hadn't had the two of you with me at the moment when I felt our bond shatter I would have surrendered there. But I could only hope to protect what I had left of her. I felt with you that she was still alive next to me."

"We still are alive next to you!" I screamed at him.

"Yes, but I know that you will be able to take care of this mission and bring your brother to safety." He smiled sadly at me. I shook my head.

"No! I'm not a parent! I'm just-"

"You're a hero. A real hero. And I know that you are capable of finishing this." He motivated. But I wasn't feeling any motivation.

"What about Catto-"

"My power is fading Akomin, you will have to prepare to finish her off when your shield drops. You have to protect Donovan." He wasn't listening.

"Why can't we stay in here longer?" I begged.

"This necklace contains time-shifting abilities. It is said to be able to halt time or travel along a specific person's timeline. It's very dangerous in the wrong hands. It was always rumored to be a crystal, however, gold is a mineral as well." He inspected the jewelry in his hand thoroughly. "It takes a massive amount of energy to use. So, I am too weak to hold us in here any longer." This was what Catto talked about with me months ago, a stone to alter time. "If I'm not mistaken it also has the ability to prevent the fading of power over time. So, she very likely used this to slow her powers from leaving her with age. Perhaps she is much weaker now than we expected. Still, too late for me." He shrugged as if it was not an issue.

"You can't act like that! Catto died for-"

"I will see her again in another life." He smiled like Catto always did. Filled with understanding and confidence. "Akomin," he began. The baby cries filled my ear again and I stood there with my eyes flooded with tears, realizing our time was up. "I am proud to have been your father." He took a deep breath, but before it was finished his body fell to the ground lifeless. Gerudin was beginning to recover from her injury and noticed Ghirahim in a different spot than before and her necklace was gone.

The echos of crying that I heard all day and all night was the only thing I held on to. It was my anchor. I stood there staring blankly into the deep, dark, desert night sky that was outside this stupid cave. The cave that I wanted so desperately the leave. And now, I feel as though it was my home. It felt as comforting as waking up in a big bed after a night of hard training, or after a 3-month coma, or after finding my parents, or after being almost killed by a stranger. It felt as comforting as a loft in a small house, that I got too tall for too quickly, that had a bed that gave me back cramps, and a window for me to sneak out of late at night. As uncomfortable it could have been, it was still comforting because it was home; because home was where the people who cared about me were. Link cared about me, Zelda cared about me, Mable cared about me. Catto cared about me... Ghirahim cared about me. And right now, this cave, it had my parents, and it had my little brother, who all care about me.

"That stupid bast-" I held my hand out towards her as I continued to stare at the stars. The tears that continued to roll down my cheeks left a chill from the cool air. The screams of my baby brother kept me present to the moment I was in, as much as I didn't want to be there. I snapped my fingers and the arrows from my sheath from the ground all flew quickly into her body. Her black tar began to excrete from every opening, but she was still alive. I snapped my fingers again and I lit her on fire. She screamed in pain and seemed to be begging for mercy, but of course, she wasn't.

"You fool, this isn't going to kill me. You're just torturing me, you know this!" She screeched through her pain. I didn't respond. She was right. I needed to stop with the physical attacks and destroy her, but my goddess did it feel good to see her suffer. While she continued to squirm in pain she fired a few shots of magic at me. I stood there and they deflected away from me and Donovan. I held out my fingers again, ready for the kill, but my eyes still focused on the stars in the background.

"You fucking coward." Her voice was raspy as her flesh melted off her body and the flames start to go dim. Her human body truly did go through a lot before it shattered. "You won't even look at me when you kill me." My lips pierced together in disgust by her words. I was no coward. I shifted my eyes and made direct contact with hers. She was the coward now. My left hand began to glow brightly and I had to avoid looking at it or it was slightly blinding. I honestly don't know how I summoned it. I was acting purely on emotion, just as Ghirahim said. I continued my eye contact with her, I wanted her to see my face as her last image. With a snap of my right fingers, a strong beam blasted from my hand and engulfed her body. When the light finally faded her body was gone but her many cloaks and clothes remained in a pile on the floor. Once I finished my blast of power I felt my body clench in a weird sensation, like bugs crawling up my limbs, it was familiar. I noticed my hand was back to a dark metallic color. I had shattered my human form with my power. I didn't know that it was possible.

My eyes finally relaxed and I looked around the cave. Loud screaming still filled my ears. I walked up to Ghirahim's body and took the bloody necklace from his hand. I put it around my neck, for now, I didn't want to forget that for the wrong someone to find.

I walked up to the pile of robes on the ground and shook them out. They smelled like decay and death. Several journals fell out. I opened them, she had messy handwriting, but it still looked familiar. It discussed the foundation of completely female society. I suppose she wasn't pulling my leg with that shit. I didn't bother reading or go through any of them. She probably just kept tabs on people all day.

The infant crying finally got to me. I knew I couldn't take it much longer. I walked over to Donovan and lifted the basket gently to rock him in hopes he would calm down. It didn't work. So, I gave in and sat down next to him. I reluctantly held out my arms and carefully lifted him. I tried to shush him and calm him as best I could. I knew that all he probably wanted was food, but Catto wasn't here for that anymore.

"Please, I know-" I choked on my own words and began to sob with him. I just wanted my mom too. I wanted my mom, my dad, my best friend. I wanted to be in Skyloft again. I held Donovan close while I cried. He was so small and fragile. And just like me, he was a kid without a mom.

I sat on the floor and rested him on my legs while I cried some more and wiped the flood of tears on my face away. I was so caught up in my crying I almost didn't realize he stopped. I caught my breath and tried to stop my heaving. I looked at him. He stared back at me, he wasn't sad anymore. He just lied on my legs, studying me. It was easy to calm myself down when he wasn't crying anymore. I was a bigger baby at this moment than he was. His eyes slowly relaxed and closed shut. His quick breathing assured me he was alright.

He was all I had left. Less than a year ago I would have never believed what days lied ahead of me. These were the days that came; the days of an akomus and her human.


	23. Chapter 23

The glimpse of sunlight peaked into the cave and I knew it was time. I helped Donovan sleep throughout the night while I stayed awake. He hadn’t eaten in a while. I needed to get him something soon. When I began to move to stand up he let out some exhausted whines. I reached over and took one of the last few clean rags from the basket and dropped it in the basin of water. I let it soak up for a moment and I wrapped it around my finger and placed it in his mouth. Hopefully, that would help settle him for a while.

I placed the satchel of items Ghirahim had brought inside the basket to help cut down on things to carry. I looped my arm through the basket and turned to the bodies of my parents on the ground. I snapped my fingers and they both began to levitate. I bound them to me with a heeling spell so they wouldn’t drift away.

The sun was rising with the temperature and I needed to get to the entrance of the city. I began to walk in the sand along the large mountain to the entrance we had approached three days ago. My clothes were still on my body and since my true form was larger than my human form, they felt tight and stretched. It was the least of my worries at the moment. I just focused on shielding Donovan from the incoming light and marching through the loose ground.

I made it to where Ghirahim stopped us before and reached out my arm. Instead of being zapped like before, the rocks began to maneuver until they were chiseled into the shape of an elegant gate. It opened inward to reveal a long tunnel with a paved path. I began to walk and every so often I would look back to see if the bodies were still following me, which they were.

After I marched halfway through the tunnel, the gate closed behind us. I saw the morning sunlight gleam on the other side of the tunnel. I inhaled deeply. I looked at Donovan who was slurping the last bit of moisture from the rag off my fingers. I needed to get him somewhere safe. That was my only motivation right now.

I confidently yet cautiously approached the other end of the tunnel. People were waiting there. There was a figure in the center of a mass of people dressed in elegant papal gowns. Those standing directly next to him wore some more humble styles of his outfit. The man in the center was of copper-red metallic skin and the others had silver or bronze. There was a large diversity in skin tones and hair colors, and just like me, none of them had diamonds present on their chests as my father had.

I could see that they were prepared to have given a great, fabricated welcome. They were all gathered in a large room with many stained glass windows and decorated it finely with flowers and ribbons. As I drew closer, and the bodies came into the light and their faces dropped in shock. Some guards pushed their way forward and took a defensive positioning towards me with their spears. I paid them no attention.

“I’m sorry, madam, may you introduce yourself?” The center figure inquired.

“My name is Akomin. I am the daughter of the Demon Lord and his lady.” I said firmly and pridefully. I never thought of our titles and how important they sounded in such a formal setting. They never seemed to be much more than a faux epithet.

“You’re his daughter?” He reiterated with some surprise. I nodded.

“And this is his son.” I gestured to the now sleeping baby in my arms.

“My name is Darmon Agorith. I am the elected prime minister of the city. You are currently in the threshold that we have created to prevent outsiders from entering without jurisdiction. The city lies beyond the doors behind us. I am currently surrounded by the entire parliament council who your father allowed to gather in his authority while he was away doing our King’s mission.” He seemed to not want to overwhelm me. He gave off a very genuine and calm persona, however, it seemed as though he had a lot of hidden emotions with how he spoke. He seemed welcoming as of right not, but he also didn’t seem too comforted by the corpses behind me.

“Yes, I understand. I’ve heard about the city.” I nodded for him to continue.

“Well, madam, we made arrangements for your father who gave very vague information on his circumstances other than that there was a threat after him and that his maiden was in critical condition.” I could already feel as though he was trying to sweeten some bitter news for me. “You see, he did not mention some important details which are unfortunately inexcusable for the safety of the city and the traditions we uphold.”

“Please tell me.” I politely and sternly instructed.

“Well, first off, he didn’t mention two of the members of your party. Which I assume would have been you and his son. He also didn’t mention that his maiden was the human child he had brought over many times before and we instructed him to abandon and he assured us he had.”

“Yes, I can attest to some of that. There were initially three of us and then her critical condition was being extremely pregnant and going into labor. And thus we had a fourth member of our party.” I explained. I knew they were going to continue to try and be delicate with me. Something wasn’t sitting well with them, and it wasn’t the fact that their boss was dead and floating before them.

“Which is understandable, but the boy is human. And I can only assume that is his mother.” He glanced at Catto’s body. I nodded in agreement. “We have very particular traditions and expectations to uphold with limit the entry of humans into our sanctuary.”

“Trust me, one is dead and the other is two days old, I am sure they won’t disturb any ancient rules your society has formed.” I was sour with my words but I tried to present a kind appearance.

“We made exceptions for the maiden in the past because of our Lord’s insistence of using her towards his final mission and he stressed her importance. We were still worried and advised him to form another plan and after several years he informed us he had left her in the sky. Now, just because she has had an illegitimate child and convinced him that it was our Lord’s, it gives them no exceptions to our customs.” I wanted to rip their smug faces off as the group nodded in agreement with him. But instead, I smiled and laughed a little.

“No-no, I can assure you that the baby is not illegitimate and is both of theirs.” I clarified.

“I am sorry madam, but humans and demons are not able to procreate and that child is in fact human.” He disagreed. “I am sure if you were to bring your own mother into this to attest-“

“Well, I can tell you that these two were in fact married. And that they did in fact create this baby. And to add on to that, that human is my mother. I am an akomus.” I explained further. A few whispers broke out amount them. Argorith raised his hand to hush them.

“ I would like to hear what you have to say. Please, explain your situation in full.” He now seemed extremely interested.

“My mother and father never separated as he told you they did. I assume he only said that to you so you would quit pestering him, and I assume that is why he decided to stop coming back here to do his job also. My mother came from another world and the two of them fell in love and out of the protection of her, my father bound their souls together. However, the price he paid for that was a deal with Gerudin. Afterward, my mother gave birth to me, however when my father could not pay the price which he had bargained she became fixated on destroying us. She followed us for years until yesterday. Where she finally caught up to us and took the lives of both my-our-” I realized they weren’t just my parents anymore and I looked down at sleeping Donovan. “-our parents.”

“You are an akomus?” He asked again and I nodded. “And Gerudin is she-“

“I killed her,” I answered before he could finish. He nodded again.

“You may have already guessed, but because you are the firstborn demon in your father’s family, his authority has been passed to you. However, the customs of our city-“

“I want a funeral for them. I want the grandest most respectful and extravagant ceremony to be held for both of them.” He was right, I had already guessed this would happen. But even with my orders he stood strong in my way and continued to bare bad news.

“We have customs within our city, my Lady.” He immediately used my new title which caught me off guard. “A relationship between demon and human, regardless of which world they come from, is a sacrilegious act that we do not condemn. We can not celebrate their funeral within the inner city.” He explained. I wanted to use my new authority to tell him to do anyway. My face was scrunching up with frustration at how degrading and negative he was towards me. He truly refused to want anything to work out the way I wanted it to. “We can have it be in the outskirts of the city, it can be as extravagant as you want. However, it won’t be mandated for citizens to come to pay respects, it will be completely voluntary.” He described. He was trying to compromise. I realized I didn’t want to show up and dictate their entire way of life. I just wanted to figure things out and understand what to do next.

“That will work fine.” I agreed. I’m sure that they will get at least a few hundred people wanting to pay some respects to their dedicated ruler. It would just be outside the city. Away from the chaos, just as they always wanted to live.

“Now, about the boy-“ Argorith began.

“I need some milk or liquid food for him. He will be staying by my side at all times.” I instructed.

“As you wish...” he grumbled slightly to himself. “Anything else?” I shook my head. “Then welcome, Demon Lady Akomin.” He bowed slowly and the rest of the many council members followed suit. They parted through the middle and created a path to the great doors behind them. Guards walked in unison and pulled the door open. The sun had risen much more now and it lit up the view before me. The building I was in sat on the edge of a large bowl. The city sat at the bottom and tucked between the two huge mountains from before. It was more than anything Skyloft could have accomplished and it was thriving with life. Specks of people walking through the narrow streets that webbed far and wide. Houses, cathedrals, buildings, and bazaars flooded the land below me. In the center of it all was a building that stood higher than all the rest. It stood high and large, it was castle-like and extravagant.

“Lady Akomin, if you would, the guards would like to escort you towards the City Center.” Argorith offered. I nodded, “You may want to consider leaving their bodies with us until the burial.” He suggested. As much as I didn’t want to leave my parents alone, I knew to process though a city with dead bodies was not going to be an appropriate look. I disenchanted the heeling spell and let their bodies be handled by some more guards.

I turned and followed the two armed escorts I had in front of me and followed them down the steep steps that led to the city. It was captivating. I looked back and see how far we had gotten from the entrance gate and I noticed that the entire council was processing behind me. I felt like I was the leader of a parade I didn’t want to be. The feeling amplified as soon as we reached the bottom and the dense streets filled with busy demons had to split to make room for our route. Many people stood and stared with confusion. Whispers were hissed among the masses and they stared at me. I felt as if I was back in Skyloft. I was trying to remain calm but the familiar stares felt like hot metal rods searing into me. I knew I couldn’t let my stress overtake me, I was carrying the most precious cargo in the world. I could not risk hurting him. I refused to touch him less than twenty-four hours ago for this very reason, but now I could only trust myself to keep him safe, and that made me more uncertain.

A booming voice bellowed from the sky. I was startled and immediately stopped walking in response, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to introduce our newest ruler, the daughter of our Lord Ghirahim himself, Demon Lady Akomin.” I didn’t like this. Donovan began to cry again from my stressed reaction. The escorts turned to me and ushered me to continue walking. There were too many personalities rushing through my head. This is something Ghirahim would have loved. This is something Catto would have hated. This is something Link would have refused. I wasn’t a hero to them, I wasn’t even real royalty to them, I was nothing to them. So, I was shocked when stares and whispers turned to applause and excitement. All because of me? I took some deep breaths and decided to keep my head down. I couldn’t let the stress make me lash out. I could not hurt Donovan.

I felt like thousands of people wanted to know who I was suddenly. It felt fake, but it was slightly flattering. With each step, I tried to focus on the paved cobblestone bricks I passed over. Anything to keep my mind on the shouts and begs for my attention. I was so indifferent at this moment, unsure of how I even wanted to respond, the uncertainty scared me. My mind was pulling in three directions. When more announcements were made and people began to try and approach me for handshakes, kisses, questions, and more, I began to shut down more. I didn’t know how far the walk was to this City Center place, I could see it towering over us and the rest of the city, but this journey felt much longer than any other.

A large square filled with people, an artistic fountain, and many architectural wonders guided the way to the large extraordinary building that peered over the city. A large gate blocked by many demon guards stood tall. Many people were trying to push their way through to get to me, the guards ushered them away and kept me and Donovan safe. Donovan was waking up again and getting fussy now that we were close to the end of the parade. The guards worked together to open the large gates and led me inside with the council. A large grand hall greeted us inside with a long rug running up some stairs. As soon as the gates were shut I turned around. Donovan was getting more and more upset. He had gone too long without any food or water in this heat. He would be sick if he wasn’t already.

“He needs something now,” I demanded from Argorith. He nodded and turned to a skinny female staff member and whisper to her. She nodded and then ran off. Argorith approached us and beaconed me to follow him through the hall. Some elegant spiral stairs winded their way up and out of the area. I carefully held the railing and made sure not to trip. At the top, some halls and corridors branched in many directions. He led me to the end of a corridor and another, less fancy flight of stairs took us higher. This time, they went up many floors. My legs were getting tired and I couldn’t help but feel as though he remained in control of me even though there was a significant difference in authority ranking.

“Where are we going?” I panted after we passed another floor. He did not answer. “Listen, he needs food, we can go here later, first I need to take care of him.” Still no answer. We went up several more flights until we made it to the top of what I assumed to be the tower of the City Center. It had a much shorter hallway and he pulled out a large key to unlock the door.

“This will be your quarters.” He revealed while he pushed the door open. Inside was an elegantly furnished room that had large windows and a balcony that looked over the city. The decorating reminded me of Ghirahim and Catto’s old bedroom at our house in Faron. “Do you mind if we provide some fine clothing for you to present yourself in?” Argorith asked.

“Yes, I mind.” I snapped. “I can do whatever you want soon, but right now I need food for my brother.” He looked towards his right and ushered me to a section of the room. The skinny female demon from before was preparing a tray with a milk-like substance in a baby bottle. She also had a cup of iced water prepared as well.

“She will collect your measurements and be your personal server while you reside here.” He elucidated. I turned to her as she was walking up and rudely snatched the bottle from her tray. She was startled but I didn’t care. I tried putting it into Donovan’s mouth. He didn’t take it at first but he slowly realized he was too hungry to decline. I took a sigh of relief and looked around the room.

“I will leave you be, we will create the arrangements for the funeral shortly. Please relax in the City Center until we fetch you.” He instructed and began to turn and walk away.

“Thank you,” I called after him. He gave a small nodded and closed the door behind him while walking out.

There was a large bed that looked as if it hadn't been slept in for years, but it was still taken care of regularly. I sat on the foot and realized what three nights in the desert can do to a person.

“Lady-“ the servant began to speak. I looked up and noticed she was still frozen in the spot I snatched the bottle from and was holding my water steady.

“I’m sorry!” I yelped and stood up to grab the drink. She set down the tray on a small bar counter. I drank with one hand and balanced the bottle against chest so I and Donovan could both get refreshed. Once I finished my drink I turned to her. “What is your name?”

“Saharin,” She answered quietly. “My lady-“

“You can call me Akomin.” I told her. She seemed intimidated by me, it made me feel bad.

“My lady, I can not. You are our lady now and you must be referred to by your title.” She corrected.

“But I’m not a lady, I’m a teenager. I turn eighteen in two months, I’m not supposed to be a ruler or a leader of any sort.”

“Your father was nineteen when he was left by the King. He claimed he was not ready either but he shaped up to be the most respectful ruler.” She calmed down a bit. “The first thing he did was build the City Center. He wanted the demons to have a common location to look to for help. He got the few dozen of us that there were at the time after the war and built it brick by brick with them.”

“Yeah, but I am not my father.” I corrected him. “He was created to be a leader, I was not.”

“We are not our parents in the slightest.” She agreed as she began to clean up some things around the room. “But everything about us is based on who our parents were.” I didn’t understand her message, I felt it was too complex for me to comprehend at this moment.

“You are not our Lord. You are your own person.” She began to simplify it. “But you would not have been your own person without our Lord or your mother.” I had three parents. Three that played big parts of my life. I am none of them, yet I am who I am because of all of them.

“I’ve constantly been told who I was based on who my parents were. It has been hard to fight for who I really am.” I looked down at the ground disappointedly. Donovan was close to finishing his bottle and when he was done I lied him gently in the center of the large bed to relax. Saharin walked up to me and ushered me to stand up straight. She lifted my arms out to form a ‘T’. She began to measure me with some tape and write down the measurements. I was still in my clothes that Catto gave me from before. The seams we’re stretched tight and could honestly break at any minute. When she was done she began to walk towards the door.

“Your clothes will be up soon. If you need anything you may ring the bell outside your door. I will come back to assist you.” She illustrated. When she finished she closed the door behind her. I walked towards the balcony and looked down at the city below me. It stretched further than I could see. The mountains we were nestled between provided a great deal of shade from the bright desert sun. The heat was still intense, just not overwhelming. I looked down at the ground, it felt so far away, much further than I thought we had climbed up. Floods of people were facing the City Center and looked to be waiting for something, which I hope was not me. I began to get nervous from the masses of people below me. So I moved back inside and sat next to Donovan on the bed.

“I’m not ready for this.” I groaned and rubbed my face. I couldn’t be a leader or a ruler. I wasn’t meant to be here. All I wanted was a safe place for me and Donovan for the time being. I began to look through the satchel I brought with me from the cave.

I was interested in what Ghirahim deemed worthy as his most prized possessions. There were the journals that he and Catto kept over the years. There was a lot of random stuff like spell ingredients or little Knick-knacks. There was nothing really of interest besides Catto’s goal of blood. I don’t even know if I’ll need it for a while because I’m surrounded by demons, there’s no need for a human form, I’m sure they wouldn’t respect me if I preferred that form anyway.

A knock interrupted my rummaging and I sat up to see who was walking through the door. It was Saharin and she was holding a large red gown in one arm and second outfit that was covered in the other.

“You only need to try on the red dress for now.” She explained and handed it to me. I slipped off my clothes for the first time in days and put on the red gown. It was elegant and made me look royal. It was a satin red dress that had a high halter and long cape that left a long train on the floor. This was the first time I had clothes that not only were this nice, but they fit me and complimented my physical appearance. I looked in one of the large mirrors on the far side of the suite, I looked so much like Ghirahim in this form. I felt slightly uncomfortable by the fact that I looked so much like someone dead. I dropped my eyes and looked away.

“When will the funeral be ready?” I asked her, I was putting a lot of pressure on her to know a lot more answers than I think she was paid to know. She smiled at me with sympathy and she looked familiar. She had a very similar smile to Mable. I hadn’t seen that smile in a while.

“I am sure it will be soon. They have the entirety of the City Center staff working to prepare the event.” She assured. I nodded in understanding. She helped adjust my gown and make sure it was beautiful and presentable. She patted my back and I looked over to her. I was still tall for a demon, or maybe she was short for one. Regardless, I looked down at her and had a moment of remembering Mable patting my back and comforting me during my hard times. All I wanted to do was hug this servant girl in front of me. She was so pretty and had the most beautiful smile. Smiles are taken for granted. It is the part we miss most about a person once they are gone. Ever smile is more valuable than the last, making it so much more important to smile every second of any happiness. I spent too many years of my life keeping myself from smiles, that's why Link began to feel connected with me, maybe that’s why Ghirahim didn’t see me as his daughter sooner, maybe that's why I had the irony of seeing the person who loved me most have a smile plastered on her face in death.

_Knock Knock_

The two of us turned to the door. It was Argorith and he walked slowly into the room.

“Most of the funeral celebration has been prepared, all you must do is change and be present for the announcement to the citizens.” He instructed. “There will be an escort to the outskirts of the city, those who wish to attend will follow the escort behind you. Please be down shortly.”

I dropped my head and looked towards the elegant black dress. Donovan was still sleeping soundly in the middle of the bed, I felt bad for having to wake him. Saharin took her hand off my back and turned towards the door to leave with Argorith. The two of them left and the door closed behind them.

I put on the black dress. My whole body was already a dark color, so having black on top made my whole persona seem dark and gloomy, which wasn’t far from how I felt. It was a fitted dress but it was not as exaggerated as the red dress. It didn’t have many decals or extreme features, it was plain and had a deep 'V' cut to the collar. The sleeves were long and drooped down with the rest of the dress, it had a short slip that seemed more for practicality than for appearance.

I picked up Donovan who squirmed a bit but then quickly became comfortable in my arms and settled down. I quietly and gently walked down the many flights of stairs back towards the main hall that I entered through. There was a large group of people that waited for me. A few gave some odd stares and Argorith seemed calm.

“My Lady, we have some shoes for you as well as your headdress.” He waved to some more servants. I almost didn’t realize I was still in my bare feet, it wasn’t something I paid attention to in this form. Even still, I slipped on some short black heals and a large male servant placed a black floral crown onto my head. I looked towards Argorith and he nodded. The main entrance doors opened and I walked forward with Donovan in my arms and stood next to Argorith. Masses of people stood eager for works to be spoken. He cleared his throat.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” His voice boomed over the city from above, I was not prepared for that and jumped to myself and then began to listen to him speak to the people. “As many of you are aware, we have our new Lady rightfully taking her place as our ruler. Unfortunately, many of you may know that this is only possible because of the death of her father, our Late Lord Ghirahim. His death was recent, so she would like to welcome each of you to grieve and celebrate the life that he led. However, please be aware that our late Lord did take up a lover over the last several decades and decided to dedicate his life to her. That lover was indeed a human woman.” He paused for what seemed dramatic affect. A larger murmur rolled over the streets of the city as hundreds began to whisper among themselves. “Yes, you did indeed hear me correct. She was human, though she was not the same as those who slaughtered and banished us, she still prevented him from achieving his duties and forced him to move away from the city permanently to escape the prosecution she deserved.” I could tell he was changing the story, it made me upset but I knew I didn’t have much I could say, he would just continue to place a bias on any story I told. “Because of this woman, our Lord has perished and because our Lord partook in the taboo relationship with her, we can not allow him to be placed in the mausoleum with the rest of our great leaders and icons. It also should be know, that in attending this celebration, you will also be attending a joint funeral for the human woman who perished with him. If this is a situation you are comfortable with, we urge you to join and pay your respects, if not, this is a voluntary attendance, it is not mandatory.” The murmurs continued. Argorith looked towards me, I know a lot of demons have extreme views on humans, I wasn’t looking to change that, but I still had some things I wanted to say after his speech.

“Hello, fellow demons” I greeted, my voice was amplified with whatever spell Argorith used before. I was a little surprised at the volume and hearing my voice echo back at me. “I know that this may seem like a no-brainer. The humans have hurt you, and they hurt me as well, but that doesn’t change the integrity and honor someone has been able to bring throughout their life. Lord Ghirahim, my dad, he was a fantastic person. He built you this city, he upheld the pressures of thousands to fulfill the work of Demise. He was truly someone worth honoring. His wife, Catto, my mother, she was the love of his life. He never had intentions of doing as much for her as he did, but he became an even better man in his relationship with her. Love has no respect for boundaries, and who someone loves doesn’t cancel out all the respectable things they have done. So please, come with me and let us show him the work he did for this nation is not all gone to waste, let us walk together to the outskirts of the city and give him what he deserves.” I felt good about what I said and a few nods were visible within the crowds.

Argorith gestured for me to follow two large guards who opened a path through the masses. It was a slow and steady pace that felt completely worth it. I held onto Donovan and kept my head high. I could only hope that people were flooding and following behind me. The idea that these people could be looking to me a leader now, as a spokeswoman or a lord, it made my stomach churn. I refused to turn around and look into the faces of people I could possibly let down. So I followed blindly behind the guards. The city thinned and some grassy plains were visible in the distance. While sand was still everywhere, dead grass and some greenery poked through and brightened the barren yellow region.

It was a good distance from the city. And one grassy hill stood alone with a single young tree. It provided some shade and a priest-like man was standing with some other guards at the top. Floating over two larger holes were two open caskets side by side. The guards halted and dismissed themselves. They turned to join the rest of the people behind me and I held Donovan tighter as he squirmed slightly from the hot sun again the priest demon looked to me and spoke. 

“I don’t have a ceremonial script for an occasion such as this. We do not perform ceremonies for human and demon lovers. I can only give a blessing to our Lord and hope that shall be enough.” He seemed a bit saddened by the excuse he gave and I nodded in understanding. I couldn’t blame the demons for having the feelings towards humans that they do. I could not change the way they have lived for hundreds of years. So, I thanked him and he placed a hand on one casket and mumbled some words. He too walked past me and joined the group behind me. I turned to ask him a question but when I did, I noticed I was alone.

No one followed me as I had hoped. No one had decided it was worth it to pay their respects. It was just me and my parents floating above their graves.

“I suppose this is the time I’m supposed to say something nice about how great the two do you were.” I looked back at the caskets and took a deep breath. “But I don’t think I got to know either of you well enough in the past ten months to give you the justice you should get.”

A part of me, wanted Ghirahim to sit up and agree with me in a condescending tone, or Catto to reassure me that it didn’t matter because we were together and that was that. It was a very empty feeling, wanting something more than anything and yet watching seconds tick by without it happening.

“Somehow I’m supposed to do this on my own and I wasn’t meant for a life like this. I was raised for a simple like. I had a simple life with a single dad in Skyloft and I had a simple life with the two of you in Faron. I know I always tried to convince myself I wanted more but it always got me in trouble, I was honestly happy where I was.” Donovan squirmed around a bit but remained asleep. I stared at him and his tiny face. His face was so small but it had such a big meaning to it. “And a part of me says that maybe I was destined for something greater than a simple life, but it’s not fair that all of my parents lead huge lives yet never showed me how to handle one myself.”

I felt crazy but I felt like I needed this. I needed to vent and express the pain and confusion I was in. Yet, so many words that I wanted t say were evading me. I had a few tears escape and I quickly took some deep breaths and wiped them away.

I used some magic and lowered the caskets into the ground slowly while closing the covers. I tried not to look but I regretfully caught a glimpse of Catto’s smiling face one last time. A small dagger pierced my heart and I choked on a few sobbing heaves. I walked to the large pile of dirt and kicked a few clumps into the graves. As painfully alone I knew I was, this high of trying to figure out what I was going to do now kept giving me a focus outside of the moment.

“I’m sorry for the turnout.” Argorith’s voice cooed behind me. I didn’t turn to him, I let him slowly approach and stand next to me. “I am also sorry for the hardships you’ve had to go through to get here. You seemed to have had a fairly extraordinary life, it is a shame you lost so much.” He sounded genuine, but I felt as though he wasn’t. “Our lord was a respectable ruler. He cared a lot for his people. It was a shame that the girl had to come and ruin it.”

“I’d watch what you say,” I warned him.

“I’m speaking the truth. He was very powerful. The autopsy said that the force that killed him was something he could have stopped earlier within his life.” He defended. I turned to look at him in confusion.

“What do you mean?” I asked. He shook his head.

“The demon King did not create and raise him to be dependent on anyone except himself. He killed his parents before they had a chance to be a part of his life and raised him to be a man of honor. However, it was clear that shortly after meeting the human that his heart was softened by her, I would not doubt that he would have done anything for her whether it was the first week of their relationship or second decade. He humbled his power by getting attached to her, not only that, but I am certain he made sacrifices for her on multiple occasions.” I was astonished by the words he was saying. The idea that Ghirahim was capable of so much more than I originally thought makes me rethink just how powerful I was as his daughter.

“So the caster of the spell-“ I began.

“With what he was originally capable of, he could have reversed it instantly and counterattacked, leaving the caster dead where they stood.” He answered. He knew my questions, he seemed like he was trying to make me feel lose respect for Catto and their relationship. However, his explanations made me think hard to myself and try to process what I was hearing.

“I would prefer to be alone now,” I instructed. He nodded and turned around to begin to walk away.

“Then I would make sure you let her know that as well.” He muttered as he vanished and teleported away. I turned around, Saharan was climbing up the steep hill by herself. She hiked up her uniform so she would not trip or get it dirty.

“You don’t have to be here for me, I understand if you do not want to support the life that these two represented,” I assured. She shook her head.

“I had to finish my duties at the City Center before I was permitted to leave. I was scared I would miss the whole ceremony if I did not hurry. It was quite the run over here.” She panted as she approached me. She smiled wide and looked towards the two large holes dug in the ground. Even now, she seemed calm and structured, just as she was back at the City Center. She had a rose-gold skin that glistened in the night and harshly contrasted with my dark obsidian appearance. I was jealous of her, I didn’t know the diversity of skin types was such a thing of beauty among the demon folk.

“Why didn’t you just teleport?” I asked concerned with how out-of-breath she was. She happily shrugged and sighed.

“I am not able to anymore. I am a restored delinquent.” She clarified but I was still not understanding what she meant. She laughed a bit to herself. “When I was young, a couple of hundred years ago, I decided I wanted to escape the city and see what was beyond. I wanted more than anything to meet some of the people the Goddess created. I wanted to be one of them and be apart of her blessing. I didn’t feel it was fair that I was stuck here for crimes I didn’t commit. So I attempted to climb the eastern border mountain. I was caught almost instantly. I was assured that it was nothing but dangers and humans outside when they could tell I still wanted to leave they offered me lifetime parole and stripped magic away from me and my bloodline. So I have been serving the City Center ever since. There are a few dozen other who were like me, but compared to the rest of the city we are a minority.”

“So you just gave up?” I asked.

“I cannot leave without any magic and I would not survive long out there anyway. I still would love to go, however, it is a dream I understand I can never achieve. Our late Lord was always an inspiration to me. He came and went as he pleased and one day he stayed away for a better life outside of here, I do not blame him. He tasted freedom and never wanted to come back to a prison such as this.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I agreed. I looked towards Ghirhaim’s casket. “I think it’s good the two of them are out here away from the craziness of the city. I think this is something they would have wanted.” I held my hand out and filled the holes with the rest of the dirt using some magic. There was no headstone but the tree provided a good bit of shade and hung over the graves. I used some magic and carved some words into the tree. I took a deep breath and began to turn and walk back towards the City Center with Saharin, holding her hand and feeling her comfort. Before we got too far I decided to make one last glance towards the tree.

_Here lies the Demon Lord Ghirahim and his loving wife, Catherine Martin. Forever bound by a string of fate._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this painfully long chapter haha. Please Continue to Comment, Kudo, and read to help support me and my writing passion. I am so incredibly tired I was falling asleep while proofreading this so please forgive me.  
> -Iris


	24. Chapter 24

We had made it back to the top of the City Center where my suite was. Donovan was sound asleep and I was glad to have gotten him out of the heat. I felt hesitant about letting go of Saharin's hand. I couldn't bear to feel the emptiness in my palm again. But without many words, she slipped away and closed the door before I could object.

I lied Donovan down on his side of the large bed. I used a towel from the room to swaddle him the best I could to help him rest. There were some bottles of food still on a counter on the far side of the room. I did not need to worry if he woke up and needed something to eat. I didn't have much more to do than to think to myself, which was a dangerous pastime.

What I heard from Agorith today was something that stirred in my stomach. I felt as those I had something I needed to do with what he said. I knew what I had to do, but a mental block was keeping me from wanting to know. I felt like I was following a path of footprints that had been faded and had no definitive destination. I was hesitant, yet at the same time, I knew what my first step was.

I reached into the satchel. I pulled out a small vial. I went to one of the many cupboards in the room and searched for something. I was able to scrounge up an old soup dish that looked that it was meant more for decoration than anything else. I still brought it over to the edge of my bed and took the small cork from the vial and let a drop fall out into the dish. I quickly sealed it again and put it back in the satchel.

I did my best to remember the spell Ghirahim had taught me. I knew my situation was limited and I hoped this silly little dish would work for what I needed it for. When I finished using my powers, I swiped the single drop of blood up with my index finger and wiped it on the bath of my left hand. I took some deep breaths and felt a cool breeze come over my body. I looked down and saw the now baggy funeral gown deal over my body. The shoulders began to fall and I tried to hold it up the best I could. I began to look for the clothes I had worn into the city. They were nowhere to be found.

My gown was not going to do much good for me in this situation. It would fall or I'd trip on it if I tried to journey out of the room to find out where my clothes went, besides, I wasn't going to leave Donovan alone in the room for any given amount of time.

I carefully drug myself over to the door and looked around the small hallway the led the stairs. There were several trash and laundry shoots around the hall and a ladder that led up to a door on the ceiling which I can only assume would be the roof. The setting sun was stealing the little light left for me to examine the room, but the rising moonlight helped by glimmering on a small brass object next to me. There was a string right outside my door and it was attached to a small bell, but it also led into the wall and out of sight. I reached for the bell and rang it firmly, then closed the door to wait a few moments.

A few quiet knocks were audible and I hurried to answer the door. Saharin had an amused look that quickly shifted to confusion. She probably had no idea who I was at this moment.

"It's me," I assured. "I had to change to my human form but I need your help." Her face looked down at my falling dress and looked as though she blushed slightly.

"I thought you were going to rest for the night." She asserted.

"I was after I finished this, but I can't find my clothes from before," I answered. "I don't remember where I put them and they aren't in the room."

"I took them down to wash and restitch." She informed. "What do you need them for?"

"It's unimportant right now. I just need you to get them for me if you can." I instructed. She nodded in obedience. She turned around and walked out. I sat patiently at the foot of my bed quietly waiting for her to return. Within a few moments later, a quiet knock on the door nibbled at the silence. I walked up and opened the door for her again. However, with how fast she was, I was expecting it to be someone else.

"Here." She handed me the folded clothes and I held out one arm to take them.

"How did you do that?" I asked her quietly. "You can't teleport, so how are you get up all those stairs so fast without breaking a sweat?"

She pointed to a small hatch door in the wall. "It's a pulley and lift. I can take myself up and down multiple floors very quickly. It goes down to the servants quarters and workspaces which can't be accessed by professional staff." The door was small, it looked like it could only fit one person if they scrunched themselves inside. "It was originally just meant for item deliveries between floors, but since I am small enough and can't teleport, I have been using it as transportation too." I didn't realize how small she was for a demon. She was around my size while in my human form, which is by no means small for a human.

"Thank you," I said to her. She must have thought it was for the clothes, but I meant it for the information she just gave me. She bowed her head to me slightly and I closed the door. I got changed into the clothes that property fit me and got into the bed next to my brother. I stayed away from him in hopes not to roll over him. Having little to no sleep over the last two nights was beginning to bear down on me. I had a lot of things to think about and consider. As I slowly began to drift asleep I felt my eyes close and then I remembered something important.

I shot up in my bed and remember I still owed Lanayru a visit after him helping me. When I turned around I noticed Donovan was not next to me anymore. I began to panic and thought he might have rolled off the bed, but that's impossible for a baby his age.

"Good morning sleepy head." A voice hummed from the other side of the room. My sense of perspective was not right at this moment. Good morning? I scanned the room and saw Saharin holding Donovan and feeding him a bottle. My stomach felt tense and I wanted to scream.

"I was awake just a second ago, how is it morning?" I accused.

"I don't know, you were dead asleep when I came to bring you breakfast, I was worried because Donovan was crying quite loud next to you. So, I fed him his bottle and let you rest since I could not wake you up when I tried." My heart was pounding. I must have been so tired I didn't even notice I was asleep.

"Do you mind giving him back to me." I barked. She looked panicked by my harsh tone. "You don't get to touch him,"

"I-I'm sorry, my lady." She whimpered and brought him over to me and placed him in my arms. He began to stir and whine until he broke out into tears. I realized what I had done. Saharin was gathering her things and looked very hurt by my rudeness and was ready to leave.

"Wait." I hollered, "I'm sorry that was out of line, you can hold him again, I'm just on edge and very protective." I felt bad seeing her look so upset. We were both just beginning to trust each other.

"My lady, I am sure that you can use your space." She defended, but I shook my head.

"I have to leave and run an errand." I blurted.

"I will send for an escort into town-" She didn't seem to understand.

"No, I need to leave the city, I would like to take you with me." I offered. She didn't seem excited or tempted in the slightest. She just shook her head slightly.

"My lady, I don't believe that you will be permitted to leave so soon. The City Center staff and servants have been instructed to keep tabs on you at all times and not permit you to leave without permission from the prime minister."

"Well, I can just go ask." I shrugged. She shook her head again.

"He will not permit you to leave, he will especially not permit me to join you as well." She denied.

"I am the demon the Lady I can just tell him-"

"My lady, while your title did hold value, but it still does not overthrow the power of the prime minister. He lets you believe you have power for the sake of show and his benefit. He still has tried to dictate everything you do to some degree. As far as power, he has it all. He doesn't want to give it up."

"Ok, then we'll just leave so that way-"

"He will not allow that. We can't leave the city... but I can help you escape."

"What about you? You wanted to see the rest of the surface all of your life." I argued. She smiled and didn't seem to mind.

"If I am caught trying to escape again I will be killed. But I know a way you might be able to get through and I can remain here."

"What is that?" I asked. She genuinely cared about making sure I got out. And a part of me realized I wouldn't be returning if I left the city. It would be best for the people if they learned to have faith in their own elected leader, and not someone they have no control or say in. Being a model for people to respect is too much pressure for myself, there is no way that I could live the rest of my life here trying not to mess up or create a bad representation for the honorable person they believe Ghirahim to have been.

"You will need to exit the City Center without the council members seeing you. They will insist on escorting you and they will not let you leave."

"So how do I leave without a single person noticing me?"

"You don't need no one to notice you, just not people who hold authority." She grinned. I didn't get her point but she grabbed my hand and led me out of the room. I held tight to Donovan and followed her. "I will guide you out, you just need to get down to the servant quarters." She giggled as she pointed to the lift that she used last night. She opened the hatch door and a small compartment that was no wider than a crate sat empty. She pushed me slightly to encourage me to go inside. I crawled in and cradled my brother so he would not be disturbed by the uncomfortableness we were in. "There is are two ropes to your left. You need to control the direction you go in but pulling one or the other. You need to go to the bottommost floors, so do not get out or be seen until you can not move any further down. When you are there, I'll pull it back up and meet you down there." She seemed excited about the adventure we were about to go on. It gave me similar feelings to the risks that Mable and I took to sneak out at night to meet each other.

"Wait, I need the satchel that's in my room before I leave," I told her. She nodded and closed the door on me. I waited quietly as she went to go retrieve it. When she walked out I heard an extra pair of footsteps walk around.

"Where is the lady?" Argorith's voice questioned her. "Is she in there? Why do you have her items?"

"Your honor, she went for a walk around the Center to explore. I do not know where exactly she went, she asked me to retrieve her items though; I was just about to go hunt her down." Saharin lied. Argorith groaned in annoyance.

"You have gotten awfully close with her very quickly don't you think?" He complained. "I suppose like minds think alike."

"Well, I was very close to the lord when he was residing here as well, perhaps it is in her blood to trust me." She excused.

"Yes, well we all know how close you and our lord were, none of us forget that." There was a pause of silence. "However, you are good with your work and you honor the divine blood well. I will praise you for that."

"Thank you, your honor."

"Come, let us go fetch the maiden, any clue what direction she may have wondered?"

"No, sir. I was hoping to find her quickly, I have many duties to finish up before she returns. Her laundry must be pressed down in the quarters in ten minutes." She added a bit of emphasis on her last sentence. It was a signal for me to follow.

"Understood," I heard the footsteps fade away down the stairs. I let out a loud sigh. Donovan had fallen asleep again in my arms, I had to be gentle while pulling the rope. It brought the crate we were scrunched in down the shaft. I saw many doors pass us. I lost count after twelve or so. All I know is that I was not prepare for the forceful slam of the crate hitting the last floor. It hurt my head as I bounced upward and slammed it on the top of the box. Donovan awoke and erupted in a loud cry. I heard many whispers outside the door. I used my foot and gently pushed it open. There was a big, musty workroom with hundreds of demons working and relaxing among themselves.

The floor seemed to be split between a living space and a working space. I was on the working space filled with large laundry cauldrons and fireplaces. There were so many different trades being practiced including blacksmithing, cooking, carpentry, and so many more. The living half had several layers of hammock cots that stacked over themselves. Many were already asleep in them, but more were empty. A few children sat on the floor or at small tables with card games or checkers. Some of the older people had books or notebooks they were using. It was in all honesty, an entire city below the city.

"Excuse me, but who might you be?" A nasal voice asked me as I began to step out and examine my surroundings. I looked over at him and was a bit surprised to see a greenish tinted demon who was hunched over slightly and only had one arm.

"I am the Demon Lady, I was told to meet Saharin down here in ten minutes," I explained. He seemed to be irritated as soon as I said her name.

"That child is truly a rambunctious fiend. Her daydreams and status interminglings are truly going to get us all into trouble one day." I didn't think of Saharin being a kid. There was a lot about her I didn't know, I suppose I never asked her either. As for now, this demon didn't even seem phased by my form or that I was practically royalty to him. He just huffed to himself. "I would offer you a comfortable place to sit as you wait, however, I don't want that little one waking the night shifters." He bickered. I continued to shush Donovan and try to calm him but it wasn't doing much good for the moment.

"I don't need a place to sit, I can stand, I just need to be where Saharin can find me." I insisted. The demon grumbled to himself In response.

"You are as difficult as they come." I felt a bit offended by this at first however I took a second thought. I wasn't in a mental place to truly become angry. I still felt so empty and all I wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before. I wanted to do anything to bring my parents back. I wanted to do anything to make it right. Everything else was futile. Getting angry at an old demon who probably has better things to worry about than my ass isn't worth it for me.

I studied the area. It seemed sad at first; everyone was being put to work and living underground in a giant castle. But the more I inspected, the more I noticed people seemed happy. There was structure, there was equality, there was a connection with everything. There was no need for status or common unity. It felt like everyone was a big family here, away from judgments. I didn't want a life of being a mascot for people I don't know. I wanted something like this.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting long." Saharin panted as she ran up to me. She had my satchel and looked exhausted.

"Did everything work out?" I asked her and she nodded.

"We will have to be quick to get you out of here. The Prime Minister did not seem fond that he could not find you. He will have someone aura track you soon enough." She explained and grabbed my hand. She took me to a large gate that led to a dark tunnel. This area was much larger than I originally thought. "I will follow you to the end of this. You will be on your own from there." She explained as she opened the gate and began to walk down the damp dim tunnel.

"I understand. I don't want you getting in trouble." I stated while following her. Donovan was calming down and falling asleep once again in my arms.

"As far as they know I am just following orders. I would be in more trouble if I wasn't." She huffed. It was difficult to see the end of the hall. It must go in a long way. We walked for several minutes in silence.

"I didn't realize you knew my father well." I sparked a conversation.

"I didn't realize you heard all that." She sighed. "I used to serve your father as I did you."

"How old are you?" I inquired to understand a little further. "You said you were pretty young."

"I am young. I'm seventy-seven. I'm less than a century." She seemed insulted by my questioning. "I looked up to your father, he was very close-" she interrupted herself to change her sentence. "We were very close." She finished.

"That's good, I wish I had that luxury," I responded. Something was bothering her.

"You are a lot like him though, my lady. You are much kinder and wiser than he was." She meant what she was saying and it meant a lot to hear it from her. The tunnel was getting dimmer and damper too. I walked close to her and grabbed her hand, intertwining our fingers and squeezing it tight. She squeezed back and led us into the dark further and a while, our feet stopped and I felt Saharin's hand drop from mine. Every time she did this it was like a void inside of me opened. I raised my empty hand to gently pat the back of my little brother who was snoring slightly in my arms. A small crack of sunlight appeared right over us. I was finally able to see again, but the light was very bright. I looked over to see Saharin pushing a stone above us out of place.

"This is the end of our journey, for now, my lady. You will need to get out and head up towards the gate you came into the city from. There is an enchantment on the city. You can not teleport between the outside world and the city. You will have to go into the entry threshold and teleport out from there and to return you must enter through the gate again. Please be safe." It was a lot of information but I nodded in hopes I understood. I think we both understood I had no intension in returning anymore. She knelt and I stepped on her leg. She boosted me up and out of the hole. I discretely placed the stone overtop the hole again and looked towards the tall staircase that led back up to where I came in yesterday morning. The hot sun was beating down on me and I tried to block it from Donovan's face.

It was much more exhausting going up the stairs than down. But luckily I reached the stop where the grand doors and many stain-glass windows glimmered and gleamed down at me. Two guards were standing ready in front of the doors.

"State your business, human." They spat in unison without making eye contact.

"Excuse me, forgive my disguise for walking about the city, but I am the Demon Lady." I snapped. They seemed a bit shocked at first.

"Our apologies, our lady." They apologized. "Please state your reason for visitation."

"I need to head inside real quick." I tried to push past them and through the doors. But they readied their weapons and did not let me through.

"We are sorry, our lady. However, you need explicit permission to enter the threshold." I groaned to myself.

"I give myself permission," I argued but they did not move. I knew that what Saharhin said what right, I had very little political power. Out of pure irritation and frustration, I decided I was done dealing with them. I used my power and swiped them away and down the stairs. It took a lot of energy because I could tell they were resisting and were very powerful. However, I gritted through with some determination and I won the battle. They fell forward several stairs onto one of the platforms. I pushed open the door and more guards seemed surprised by me. I turned to see the guards I threw running back towards me and I quickly snapped my fingers and disappeared.

I reappeared in front of a great skeleton that was too familiar at this point. I walked up to the same old crystal and tapped it once again. The area lit up with life. The loud coughing of a terrible illness filled the air and I turned to the dragon Lanayru. He seemed a bit please to see me but preoccupied but his coughing.

"A deal is a deal." He laughed through a scratchy throat.

"I wasn't going to not fulfill my end of the bargain. Thanks to you the water helped a lot." I was grateful for my words.

"I see, and the little one was able to make it then." He gestured to Donovan. I nodded. My eyes teared up. "And my dearest Catto, she seemed to not have made it. " I nodded again.

"How do you know all this?" I asked him in a sharp tone.

"My darling, you already know how I know." He cooed. He went into a coughing fit. I took my free hand and held tight to the necklace that sad cool against my breast. "I only have a few moments left here, you will be best off if I showed you how to use it for the time being." He huffed. I grew concerned. I had come on his last day completely unintentionally.

"I'm sorry, I would have come sooner-"

"You have nothing to apologize for, child." He comforted. "Take your necklace and harness much of your power. You won't need much to travel a mere four days, but it will exhaust you if you are not careful." I took a deep breath and held on tight to the necklace. I summoned a great amount of energy and it sucked it quickly away from me. When I looked up I was standing outside the cave where Ghirahim, Catto, and I were staying before. We were just beginning to settle down in the cave.

"Reset here, I'm going to gather some supplies for a fire." Ghirahim sighed as he began to turn towards me and Donovan. I quickly turned and ran to hide behind a small desert bush. But it was not very discrete and he was walking towards me regardless. I held my breath and dealt with the heat of the sun baking down on me. I closed my eyes and listened carefully to the approaching footsteps.

"I hope whatever you're planning works out." His voice calmly cooed at me. I peaked my eyes open and looked up at my father looking down at me. It was a feeling that chilled me to the bones in a hot desert.

"I-I need to tell you something!" I began to blurt, but he held his hand to silence me.

"I don't mess with timelines, Akomin." He said blandly. "I see that things have worked out negatively for yours, but I know that you're willing to make the sacrifices it takes to make things right. However, I do not intend on playing any role in it." My mind was running a thousand miles an hour just because of having this conversation. My Ghirahim was dead and six feet under, yet here he was standing in front of me and disagreeing with me as normal. I watched him continue on his way and walk towards a trapped tumbleweed. I snapped my fingers and appeared in front of the giant skeleton I had seen just moments before.

"You are my dearest Catto's offspring, are you not?" He asked for confirmation. I nodded and looked up at him. "How is she doing? Was she able to reunite the three of you?" His question was bittersweet. She had reunited the three of us. She worked hard to foster a relationship between all of us. I thought I had been coming to grasps with my parents' death very well, however, I realized I was just suppressing emotions about it all. I have still raw inside. Remembering Catto's warm hard press against my cheek slip away felt like the world slipped away with her. My eyes welled up and I took some solid deep breaths.

"She- she-" I tried to muster the courage to give him the answer he needed. But he cocked his head in pity and shushed me politely.

"Say no more child. You have suffered greatly." He calmed. "I see you have another of your blood." I nodded and kissed the top of Donovan's head to help calm me down.

"How can I assist you?" He asked, but I realized I had a purpose of being here. I needed to tell him how I got here and I wanted to find out how to complete the mission I was setting myself up to begin in the first place.

"I came about four or five days in the future. You showed me how to use this." I held out the necklace that was around my neck. "I practiced using it by coming back to see you before-" I realized I may have said too much and stopped myself. A loud cough reassured me that what I would tell him wouldn't be a surprise.

"I am sure that my future has been predicted for a while now." He laughed calmly towards me as he tried to clear his throat some more.

"I'm trying to go back pretty far," I explained to him. "But I don't know exactly when. It's someone else's life."

"It is going to cost you a great deal of energy. Hopefully, you are powerful enough to make all the stops in between your destination." He explained. "I suppose you're planning to do something very great?" I reached into my satchel and felt around for a few moments. My hand clenched around a small vial and I pulled it out. It had a good amount of blood remaining in it.

"I'm going to try and help a lot of people," I answered. "Especially, the people who matter most to me."

"Then who am I to stand in your way?" He huffed and bowed his head. I was well aware that there was no turning back from this decision.


	25. Chapter 25

With the blood of my mother smeared over the jewelry in my hand I looked up towards Lanayru with sincerity and thankfulness. He seemed to understand that my time with him was coming to an end and that it was up to me from now on. I still must admit that I did not fully understand the gravity of what I was about to do. The concept of a separate timeline existing was foreign to me. However, the hero in me told me to trudge on and stick with my decision. I bowed slightly to Lanayru and went to the crystal that kept him alive and tapped it for him to change back into the large skeleton I knew him as ten months ago.

I concentrated much of my power and felt it drift away from me as my surroundings faded to a different scene. I was standing behind a bright redheaded woman as she sat in a chair facing a bed. I quietly stood there and observed for a second. I was in my old bedroom and Catto was looking after me as I lied motionless in my bed. I must have still been in my coma state at this point. I didn't want to risk her turning around so I took another quiet deep breath and changed the scene once more.

I was now inside her and Ghirahim's bedroom, but neither of them was to be seen. I heard some footsteps approaching and I quickly ran to hide inside of their closet and overhear the conversation. I knew the longer I stayed in these past moments the more risks I was creating, however, every part of me wanted to absorb these emotions and moments with them.

"She isn't more than a pest who needs to be taught some humility, Catto. You know that I still want what is best for her." Ghirahim criticized as I heard them enter the bedroom.

"She's a kid, don't expect her to have the eons of life experience you have. She needs to learn things on her own." She retorted. "I don't want the time that we have with her to be filled with hatred and arguing, she's been raised well."

"Well, perhaps she can learn to embrace us rather than shaping us to the people she wants us to be. Maybe then she can have some independence and dignity-" Ghirahim sassed. I peeked out the crack of the closet door and looked at the situation. Catto stood up and got close to Ghirahim, however I could only see a portion of their bodies. I heard a loud smack and I saw Ghirahim take a step back.

"You're the last person to be talking like that." She hissed at him. Ghirahim grabbed her wrist firmly and took some deep breaths to restrain himself. He looked as if he wanted to slap her back.

"And you have been gone far too long to feel as though you can discipline me." He jeered. I accidentally let out a gasp from the closet due to the situation. His face shot over towards the door where I was. I quickly used the necklace again to leave the situation before I was caught.

The next scene brought me to the desert to the hut she had been living in for my entire childhood. She was out tending to Lanayru and I was standing behind her. A larger jump in tine was necessary to keep looking for the moment I was looking for. I understood that I was looking for something that didn't have a particular date or time, and I didn't want to overshoot it. But it was draining to keep these short bursts going. I quickly summoned a large rush of power to be pulled away, however, I wasn't sure on where I was when I got there. I was standing in a strange area that appeared to be Faron woods, I was standing at the top of a large spiral pit. Dead bokoblin bodies were littering the ground and a loud of dark aura surrounded the place. I turned around and recognized the door to the temple at the sealed grounds. Where was Catto?

I skimmed the area and amid the settled chaos was a figure stood patiently by herself in front of a pillar in the center of the grounds. I quietly teleported to a safe distance away and hid in some dark shadows. I focused on Catto who had her hands clasped together and was shaking. She was praying. She was also noticeably pregnant. I became confused about how I could have fast-forwarded to a moment I didn't know about. I realized I wasn't looking at Catto's pregnancy with Donovan, I was looking at her pregnancy with me. The dark aura was sickening, it felt as though something awful had just been awakened, however, a few moments later it seemed to have vanished and things calmed themselves. A bright light shined from the pillar and a young boy clad in green took a step outlook exhausted and traumatized. Catto's face perked up, he wasn't who she was looking for, but she was still glad to see him.

"Are you okay? What happened in there?" She asked desperately. She wiped some silent tears off her cheeks.

"I-I did it." He panted and walked past her. "I need to find Zelda." He didn't seem to want to talk about anything more with her. The younger Link was almost unrecognizable compared to himself today, but his legendary sword quickly gave away everything. I never thought I would live to see it out of its slumber, but here I was. "I wouldn't waste your time, Catto." He hollered towards her as he continues to walk away, back up to the temple.

She continued to sit and wait. Waiting for what? What was she waiting for? I wanted to know. I didn't care of Donovan could wake up and cry at any moment and give away my hiding place, I was determined to find out. I decided to use the necklace and some small bits of power to hop forward a couple of hours. Catto still stood there waiting. I went forward again and she was still waiting, however, a familiar pompadour approached her and placed a hand on her should.

"Listen, lady." A humorous voice spoke in a serious tone. The trumpets I heard in my head from before played a slower, sadder theme song. "I don't think there is much hope for him, we are all heading back to our time, we don't wanna leave you here alone. You have to look out for yourself. " She stayed silent and stood there looking at the pillar. "Anyway, we will keep the gate open for a while, but we will eventually have to close it. Try not to stay too long." He took a shawl off his shoulders and wrapped it around her.

I was officially rooting for her. She was determined to stay, she knew she had to stay. However, I am much less patient and wise that she was, so I hopped forwards again. I knew I was backtracking but I remained interested. A low sound of rejection and pain followed by a much dimmer light erupted from the pillar. A large black sword clinked as it fell to the ground in front of her. Her face brightened and she ran over to it. The sword itself was as tall as she was, it looked heavier than what she should be carrying at the point she was in pregnancy.

She lifted it and took the shawl from Groose and wrapped it gently around the sword and spoke some quiet gentle words I could not hear. She began to make her way back up the spiral hill and towards the temple. I realized the blood I had was going dry and I needed another drop. I reached towards the vial and pour some more onto my hand. I gripped the necklace again and began to go back further again.

This jump between times felt a lot more draining. I was running out of the energy to produce the magic I needed for time traveling. Now, I was back in Skyloft, I was extremely confused and not expecting to be back here ever again. I was standing in the bazaar. I was amidst the crowds and blended into the masses better than any hiding spot. I skimmed to make sure I could find Catto around me but she wasn't in the groups of people.

"Hello! Welcome to the item check! Is there anything you would like to store?" A perky voice chirped in the distance. I shot my head across the tends and saw Catto standing behind the counter in a cute uniform.

"Well, ma'am. I would love to pack up your smile and keep it here for a rainy day!" A flirty young man laughed at her and she giggled back.

"Sir, we can only store physical items." She responded grinning wide. "However, I would be glad to share with you my smile anytime you come to visit."

"Haha, you're a gem! I hope you're enjoying the new job." He responded and patted her head and turned to walk away. "I'll see you around, Catto. I hope you stop by the place tonight for the celebration!" She nodded eagerly and he disappeared into crowds. I was taken aback by her flirty relationship with him, however, as soon as she was gone, her smile broke for a second and she rubbed her head where he patted it.

"Hey- girl?" Someone tapped my shoulder behind me. Out of pure fear I turned around and bolted out of the bazaar at the closest entrance. As I was running I managed to jump time again. I hoped my presence there wasn't too destructive, I was happy to be back on the surface. I was also back in my house as normal.

I was in the hallway, footsteps echoed as they marched heavily through the hall. I quickly bolted into the bathroom, this time Donovan was getting cranky. I tried hushing him and it worked for the most part, however, he would let out some soft whines that I was hoping wasn't too audible. Luckily, I think the situation I was in helped muffle them out.

"Ghirahim! Don't you walk away from me as nothing happened! At least say something, you ass!" Catto screamed. I heard the footsteps rush down the hall. Ghirahim's bedroom was across from the bathroom and I could hear her banging on the bedroom door. "Get out here!"

"Catto, you are quite literally too incompetent to have this conversation!"

"You can't read my journals, call me out for MY secrets and pretend I am the one at fault here!" She was livid. "You can't treat me like a dumb kid anymore! I'm seventeen! Let me have some fucking freedom!" She kept pounding on his bedroom door.

"I'll let you have your freedom after you show that you're mature enough to use it properly. Until then you're bound to the house until I deem you're ready."

"You're grounding me?! And you won't even show your face to do it?!"

"You will hit me, Catto, and you know that." He warned her.

"Yeah, I wanna punch your cowardly look on your face right off-" I used the necklace and dodged the situation before it escalated further. I was still in the bathroom, however, I couldn't hear noises outside. I listened closer. Catto's voice was hushed and sounded a lot younger. I peaked my head out and looked down the hall. She had a bandaged Kikwi that she was carrying out the front door. She was checking her surroundings. A few moments later, Ghirahim teleported in front of the door. He peaked around the closet and ice room that were are the end of the hall and patiently waited by the door. She walked through the door again and became startled by Ghirahim.

"You helped him escape?" He questioned. She shrugged quietly. Her face was a lot younger and she seemed about an inch or so shorter. "Catto, I would appreciate it if you stayed away from my work."

"You're work seems stupid." She rolled her eyes. "You don't need to be hurting innocent little guys like that. Why was he so crucial to your work?"

"Catto, it's none of your business, but if you're going to talk as if you must know, I will humor you." He rubbed his face in frustration. "I do not particularly need him for any work. He is just being an annoying pest and I wanted to make a statement to him and his little friends so they stay out of my way and know their place."

"Are you saying that a little thing like that is capable of distracting you so much that you need to go out of your way to torture it?" She argued. He had his head perk up slightly, but he didn't have the words to respond. "I mean honestly, what is it capable of that makes it so annoying?"

"You are peculiar." He dismissed and teleported away. I opened up the vial and took some more blood into my hand again. I knew I was getting close to what I was looking for.

I made another trip back and I was outside in front of the house. Catto was sitting on the steps of the porch and had a long stick that she poked into the ground. The ground was muddy and was very saturated, it seemed completely drowned. I was standing behind some trees outside of the yard. Ghirahim walked slowly up to the house from the distance and looked exhausted. He had his arms full of random items, but he held out some papers, brushes, and bottles of paint to Catto.

"More art." He spoke slowly to her. She nodded and took them from him.

"Thank you." She grinned sadly. "Will water come again?" Her language skills were very broken.

"I hope not." He groaned as he walked up to her on the stairs. He held out a comforting hand and she accepted it. She stood up and right before they turned to go inside the house she pointed to the sky."

"What do you call it." She spoke while pointing at a vibrant rainbow.

"Catto, you know how to say rainbow in Hylian." He scolded but she shook her head.

"No- No! How rainbow feels, how flowers feel, how-" She was trying to express a new word she couldn't translate.

"Beautiful." He interrupted her. "They are beautiful." She nodded and grinned at him. He didn't smile back, but he gazed at her with captivation and a want to understand her.

I new one more jump was going to take me out of this world. I decided to take it in shorter increments, something that I could map out easily. With another deep breath, I was taken aback more. Donovan wasn't going to stay asleep much longer either. My magic was at its limits but I was not going to give up now.

I stood outside a large abandoned building in the middle of the streets of an abandoned town. I watched a young girl open the door to the building and close it behind her. I couldn't understand any writings or signs. But I hopped backward a day, and I sat in an empty chair in some sort of moving capsule. I got scared and looked around. It was insanely loud and shakey. Donovan woke up and began crying loudly. I tried shushing him but no one sitting around me noticed or cared. I only got a couple of annoying glares. A few seats ahead of me sat a familiar redheaded girl who had her head drooped over asleep. We were moving extremely fast on a road covered in lines. There was so much open field and grasslands that stretched for miles. There was also some strange music playing quietly over the whole machine. There was singing in a different language. I truly was in a completely separate world. After Donovan refused to quiet down, I used a few more drops of blood to get myself out of there. My hand was stained red, and so was the necklace.

I thought I was scared before, but I wasn't prepared for this new scenery. Buildings stretched higher than I've ever seen. Hundreds of people flooded the streets and small-wheeled boxes rolled around and created large honks. Everyone around me looked like- me, minus my freak white hair and extreme height. But their ears were something so common among them. Their outfits were peculiar and their hair had strange big styles. I felt like an outsider, but once again, no one seemed to notice or care. I looked over the crowds and saw some bright red hair sticking out in front of a building. I approached and watched her from a distance. She looked as if she was distracted. She took a deep breath and walked up to a man who was passing her by. She began to shiver and cry in fear, but the man seemed uninterested. She pulled on his sleeves desperately, yet he got shocked and pulled away while yelling at her. Her face dropped and the man disappeared into the crowds. Catto's face slowly lifted in amusement and she slipped something into her jacket pocket.

I pushed my way towards the crowd and stood in front of her. She looked at me in confusion. Compared to everyone else, I looked like I was dressed in rags and I was holding a naked baby wrapped in a towel. I stared into her eyes and she looked into mine with confusion. She started speaking her tongue at me; I was frozen in fear. I lunged forward at her. I held her back with one hand and used my other to grab her jacket while I grabbed the wallet she just dropped into the pocket. Once I had it I looked down in shock.

Donovan was gone. I don't even know when, but he was somehow gone. I was just holding him. I couldn't have dropped him, his little cries and breathing were constantly in my ear. I spun around and tried to see if he was anywhere in the many people pushing around, he wasn't anywhere. Tears blinded me because I knew inside myself where he went, but I didn't want to think that was how this was going to work. While I wasn't paying attention I felt a small hand jerk the wallet from mine and took off running. I quickly reacted and started chasing after her. I pushed through the sea of people and kept my eye on the little red hair.

"Hey wait!" I screamed, but I knew she couldn't understand me. "Please!" She was getting further away. I saw her cut into an ally and disappear behind a fence somehow. I groaned and snapped my fingers. I appeared behind her back as she looked to see if she lost me. When she turned around I pulled the wallet from her hand again and held it high. She wasn't able to reach from her height. When she realized she lost she tried to take off again.

"No! Wait!" I screamed at her. I realized I knew something in her language I could say. "Catherine Martin!" She slowed down and yelled something at me, yet it didn't stop her from climbing the fence. "Catto!" I took some steps toward her. She stopped climbing the fence and looked back at me.

"Catto?" She repeated to make sure she heard me right. She walked up to me and started talking nonsense. My eyes had tears pouring from them but my sobs were silent.

I reached into the wallet and pulled out the only thing that looked like a ticket. I tore it up and threw it on the damp ground and stepped on it. I then reached out and handed her the wallet.

"This is yours," I said but she took it with caution. The remaining bit of my power felt as though it was being juiced from my body. I knew what I had done. I had the same fate that was for my brother. I coughed and fell to my knees. She looked scared and ran up to me to hold me up from falling in the ground.

"You're a good kid," I said to her. I held my hand out and took hers. I slowly brought it to my cheek and she held it there. My hand was still covered in blood and it smeared over her palm. I truly realized that this wasn't an end for me. This wasn't my death, this was my existence leaving. "I hope that I was a kid you can be proud of." I gasped. "I know that if you stay here, a lot of people will have been saved. You would have been saved. Ghirahim would have been saved. Ghirahim can save others. You can grow up, get married, and grow old with your kids. No crazy witches ruining your dreams." My head was pounding and I clenched the ground with my hands. She held my head up and kept saying things to me. She was scared. I held her hand to my close. That's all I needed to feel right now. "You're going to be the best mom." I smiled. I slowly began to see nothing but light. Things were fading from my view. The hand on my cheek felt like a ghost of days that never came.

With a flash of light, I realized my moments were ending. The story of a human girl getting a second chance never was, the story of the demon girl in Skyloft never happened, and the woman a quirky demon lord fell in love with drifted away with the rest of time.

And with that. The story is over because it never began.


	26. Epilogue

My eyes blinked and adjusted to the bright light surrounding me. I wasn't understanding how I was awake right now. My memories were intact, my body was intact, the physical world around me was intact. My eyes were desperately trying to focus and readjust to see what was before me. Two slim bare feet stood before me.

"Akomin." An elegant woman's voice called to me. I was expecting to be in pain. I expected to feel ill, but I felt fine; I felt normal. I slowly pushed myself up onto my feel and studied my surroundings. There was a large woman who looked familiar but didn't seem recognizable. I squinted my eyes and tried to readjust my vision. The woman was very tall and was dressed in a flowing gown that reminded me of a river flowing down her body. She had familiar golden hair that was tied together and fell down her back. She had a simple tiara that glimmered in the light. She was beautiful, I had never met her before, yet she was so familiar.

"I-I'm sorry, who are you?" I asked politely. She smiled and held out her hand.

"My name is Hylia." She spoke gently. My mouth dropped a bit and tried to gather some words.

"I am so- so sorry my goddess. I promise I-" she held out her hand to hush me.

"No need for the formality, Akomin. You may refer to me as Hylia." She hummed.

"I thought Zelda-" I began, but she laughed a bit as if expecting the question.

"I am still in Zelda's form on the surface, however, my god form has been able to be brought back here, away from the confines of time. I am back to fulfilling the duties I was created for." She admitted. We were in an exquisite hall. Many tables faced a great throne at the head of the hall. It was a room build to host hundreds, but it felt lonely and barren. There were many windows that were pouring deep sunset light into the hall.

"Ok, so where are we?" I asked as I stood up on my own.

"We are in my palace, we are separated from time, it is a place for only gods to dwell. The gods before me used to inhabit it, however, they have moved on, leaving me alone to reside here." She explained to me, however, the more she spoke, the more she confused me.

"So why am I here?" I looked at her blankly hoping for some sort of explanation. And for the first time in my life, someone said something I had been waiting for years to hear.

"I'm going to give you all the answers you crave, Akomin. However, I must give a lot of background context." She took a deep breath and began to guide me to her throne. "The gods created the triforce to be its own being and to represent each of their three virtues. The triforce is capable of knowledge even I do not possess it. When Catto was pregnant, it was in the midst of the hero's journey for the triforce. Your adoptive father, Link, was able to obtain the triforce temporarily by having a pure heart and testing his understanding of wisdom, power, and courage. However, the triforce is nomadic. After Link used the triforce, it would not return to the temple that was designed to house it centuries ago. It latched on to a new location. It was the most worthy location that was available at the time." We approached the throne. She turned to me and placed her hands on my shoulders. I looked down and I was clad in the most elegant armor and it glistened in the light of the hall. "It latched onto the soul of a baby, which was young and growing in a womb."

"I'm sorry, but I don't see how-" I began, but she had no patience for my simple questions and my stupidity. She continued to explain.

"It had to learn how to live in the body of such a small creature. It was never meant to be confined to just a body. It had to adapt to function with a mind and emotions. At times it felt overwhelmed, unstable, confused, and irrational. There was a genetic bond between the wisdom of your mother and the power of your father. Those two, much like the gods before me, clashed without the stability of courage to complete them. Therefore, with the hero able to teach courage, it helped keep the other two docile and complacent. However, a child does not always understand when to demonstrate wisdom overpower. It does not understand when to demonstrate courage over wisdom. It must learn through experience."

"But how did the triforce know, if it was attached to me when I wasn't born, there was no way it could have known I would learn to have the courage that I have today?"

"As I said, I do not understand the knowledge that the triforce possesses. However, I can tell you that courage is very rarely born to a person. Most are born fearful and cowardly. Courage must grow and be taught, otherwise it may never be obtained."

"But my life has only been full of mistakes! I killed people, I hurt people-"

"You aren't able to understand, however, everything about you had been predetermined by prophecy and by the traits that make you."

"So what? I'm some powerful girl that possesses the triforce and I couldn't learn how to use it-"

"You aren't understanding Akomin, you don't possess the triforce… You _are_ the triforce. Everything about you has been due to the existence of it inside of you, and it has been predetermined since the time of the gods." She was getting a bit stern, but she did not grow impatient with my denials. "The books you've read are biased and wrong on why the relationships between demons and humans are forbidden. While the Triforce represents power, wisdom, and courage, there is another triforce that represents all the malice of the world. That triforce remains with Demise. It represents cowardice, submissiveness, and ignorance. Humans are creatures that were born out of the virtues of the triforce. However, demons were born out of the shadows of the dark triforce. Their clashings of existence were never meant to intertwine, yet, as you know better than anyone, a person cannot be defined by who they are born as. While there are many difficulties that can result in the pregnancy of a demon and human offspring, more often than not there will be a case such as your brother's which would lead to a perfect human or demon birth. However, the humans feared the recreation of a being similar to Demise, and the demons feared the prophesized creation of the inevitable akomus who would be in possession of the triforce. It became a mutual taboo that was quickly outlawed by both races."

"When I went back in time, why did Donovan disappear so much faster than I did?" I demanded.

"He was a mere human. After you interfered with your mother and prevented her from leaving her own world, Donovan ceased to exist in that timeline. However, you can't reverse the existence of the triforce. When you went back you merely stoped the birth of your physical form."

"Yes, so why am I still here? The triforce should have just left-"

"Once again, you are not understanding. You are not a being that possessed the triforce as Link did to defeat Demise. Your body became the next house for the triforce to shelter in. Your physical form is gone, so all that is left is your soul which is the triforce. All that you are is the triforce. You have just learned what mortality and the life of existing as a being, and as living that way you have made mistakes... grave mistakes. That is only due to the lack of control or understanding of the form that you possessed. It makes sense that you are still thinking as a being from the physical world would think. I can not guarantee when you will no longer process thought as a person anymore. It is likely that you will eventually separate consciousness with existence, leaving your experiences as a human behind you. I predict that it will be once you determine your decision on where you will go for the next generation."

"But- I'm me, I'm just a kid. I'm not some all-wise, all-powerful, and all-courageous person. I died in another world in the arms of my fourteen-year-old mother."

"Your body died, Akomin. You are more special than you let yourself believe. You cannot return to the physical world without a house for you to hibernate in. Otherwise, your virtues will separate, once your virtues separate, your conscious will likely do so as well. I am not sure what would happen if that does."

"So, I can't ever leave this place?" I began. "Why do I look like how I did before if I'm just a sole completely separate from my body?"

"You find comfort in that form, perhaps it is what you'd like to see and others to see. It may have not been the body you wanted, since it brought a lot of judgment and torment, but you grew to love and respect it over the past year. And yes, for now, you will have to remain away from time until further notice."

"But what-"

"If you would be so honored," she changed the subject. "I would like you to assist me in my duties here."

"Assist you?" Her tone was finally sounding more positive.

"My duties as a goddess created by the gods of old was to watch after the triforce as well as the world that they created. Now, that there is a second timeline to look after, and the triforce is a being I can form a friendship with, I need your help. I could also use a friend to help and protect me. Especially since I have a bow and sheath of arrows that I have yet to learn to use yet." She walked behind her throne and on an alter sat a golden and glowing bow with a rich sheath of arrows. "If you would accept, you would become my personal commander."

"I-I would be honored! Of course-"

"My last commander died while defending and protecting the land that I love. I did what I could to preserve his soul, but I still blame myself for allowing our passions to blind us. I do not expect you to go to those ends-"

"I already went to those lengths to give better lives to the people I love... and people I don't even know. I have no problem doing it again." I blandly stated she seemed to be a bit taken aback by my answer. Her face fell into a relieved grin. "I just don't want anyone else to suffer."

"I knew that sending you to the surface would shape you into an excellent young woman." She grabbed the bow and arrows and handed them to me. "These are the light arrows that I blessed to drive out all evil and to be the strongest of existence. Until I find time to learn to shoot properly, I have no use for them. I believe you will have a better aim."

"I can really use these?" I asked in awe as I took them from her.

"There is no one else I would rather trust with them." She guided me to her throne once again. She raised her hand and some golden droplets fell from the ceiling. They rained heavily and a smaller, but still ornate, throne materialized before us. "This time you won't be leading strangers, you'll be leading yourself, looking out for the people you love, and anyone else you decide to."

I walked over and sat down in the chair, that fits me perfectly. It was roomie and meant for me. It was comfortable. When I sat down I was able to see Faron woods. There was a demon lord who was leading a battle over Lake Floria. He was winning, but the dragon Faron quickly dismissed him and sent her children to kill and drown his army. He retreated alone, went back to his house alone, and began to prepare for his next battle alone.

"I cannot keep continuous watch over your mother, however, from time to time, I can find a way to check in on how she is in her own world. If you are interested…" She offered. I had a stray tear escape my eye and I wiped it away.

"Yeah, I would really enjoy that." I laughed.

She sat next to me in her throne and held out her hand to me. I took it and firmly squeezed it for comfort. I wasn't going to be alone anymore.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyouthankyouthankyou! This is the first book I've completed in a while, I am hoping many of you enjoyed it as much as I have. Please continue to leave kudos, read, and comment. I love all you lovelies so much! Stay tuned, I know my posting schedule has gone a little crazy, the semester just started again. BUT STILL! Keep your eyes peeled for The Life To Come which is the book about Ghirahim and Catto's relationship. It is more of a friendship/romcom vibe, but it is still going to be a heavy book similar to this. -Iris


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